Wrexham relax into tension of Championship play-off race
After beating Oxford United to edge back into the Championship play-offs on goal difference, have Wrexham found form and composure at just the right moment?
Two games to go, two goals in it. It could not be much tenser in the race to reach the Championship's play-offs. And yet Wrexham are relaxed.
Or at least that is what manager Phil Parkinson claims is behind their well-time turnaround and return to the top six. On Saturday morning, the north Wales club were four points behind sixth-placed Hull City having suffered back-to-back defeats, including a crushing 5-1 beating by rivals Southampton and a flat 2-0 loss at Birmingham City. Four days later the gap is gone, with Hull's hiccups and back-to-back victories pushing Wrexham ahead on goal difference.
"We never stopped believing, but the key to us in the last two games is that we've relaxed a bit," Parkinson said after Josh Windass' goal sealed a 1-0 win over Oxford United on Tuesday night. "We just regrouped. I felt against Birmingham we were almost too desperate to go and win it, so we just tried to take a step back and had a week to reflect on what we need to and got our performance levels back to where they need to be.
" And the side back into the position they want to be heading into the final week of the regular season. Parkinson admitted his explanations may sound overly simplistic but – with a tinker to his team and the return to fitness and form of key midfielder Matty James – it has worked. All of a sudden, the team who know better than most what it takes to win promotion have the bit between their teeth again.