Wrexham knew they were just four wins away from a potential promotion when they clashed with Bristol Rovers on Friday.
When Wrexham and Bristol Rovers faced off on April 18, there was a lot on the line for both sides.
Bristol Rovers’ form of late has been dire, making the Red Dragons the obvious candidates to pick up three points.
We predicted Wrexham to win and keep a clean sheet against a side who were winless in five.
Phil Parkinson left Paul Mullin out again, but he did bring Ryan Barnett and Elliot Lee back into the side.
This added some much-needed firepower to the frontline, which was sorely needed after zero shots on goal versus Wigan Athletic last time out.
Wrexham fans weren’t happy with Phil Parkinson vs Bristol Rovers
It was a positive start from Wrexham, who managed two shots on target – two more than the entire 90 last weekend.
However, it was Bristol Rovers who took the lead in the tie via a header after Taylor Moore was left unmarked at a corner.
Wrexham’s display was extremely lackluster after that and fans took to social media to express their anger toward Parkinson.
One fan wrote: “Been playing like trash for weeks! Absolutely toothless all over the pitch! Fully on Parky and these players and I have seen them winning against us for a while now! We are done!”
A second added: “All on Parky this, playing Rodriguez again.”
“Yeah, absolutely toothless performance, making loads of stupid mistakes,” a third Wrexham fan claimed.
A fourth stated: “All on the manager. Keeps insisting on a striker that hasn’t performed once in the last 15 games.”
And another Red Dragons fan said: “Parkinson should play the guy that’s scored a —- ton of goals for them over the past 3 years. But what do I know.”
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Wrexham fans U-turned on Phil Parkinson very quickly
Prior to the match, Wrexham fans were praising Parkinson for his team selection on the day.
Elliot Lee and Ryan Barnett were given starts, which supporters expected to boost the club’s attacking threat.
However, as shown above, fans are often fickle, and they quickly turned on their manager inside 45 minutes of action.
Lee actually played well, but it seems the main problem supporters had was Jay Rodriguez starting for Wrexham vs Bristol Rovers.
It was another disappointing showing from the January addition, and it’ll be interesting to see if he keeps his place on Monday against Blackpool.