Wrexham beat Burton Albion 3-0 on Saturday afternoon, but the manner of Steven Fletcher’s opening goal has come under scrutiny.
Wrexham now have just five games to play this season, and promotion to the Championship is moving closer.
Phil Parkinson watched on as his Wrexham side beat Burton Albion 3-0 in a huge victory at the STōK Cae Ras.
Wycombe Wanderers losing at Reading handed Wrexham a boost, with Parkinson’s side moving six points clear in second place.
Wrexham are moving closer to a third straight promotion, but Saturday’s opening goal against Burton has been brought into question.
Jeff Stelling on Wrexham penalty
Sam Smith sparked Wrexham’s victory with two key moments in the second half.
Smith scored to make it 2-0 to Wrexham, but only after winning a penalty with a great show of determination.
Wrexham’s record signing chased a long ball when he could so easily have given up, knocked the ball past Max Crocombe and hit the deck.
Steven Fletcher stepped up to score and set Wrexham on the path to victory, but the decision has been slammed by Jeff Stelling.
The former Soccer Saturday host told TalkSPORT that he felt the penalty decision was ‘laughable’ and ‘one of the worst decisions’ he had ever seen.
Stelling suggested that referees are intimidated by officiating at the STōK Cae Ras because there are ‘Hollywood stars everywhere’.
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds actually haven’t been in town all that regularly this season, but Stelling believes referees are favouring Wrexham regardless.
“Wrexham have strengthened their hold on second place, but I have to say, I wonder… referees go to the Racecourse Ground, if they are intimidated by the crowd and the fact that there are Hollywood stars everywhere,” said Stelling.
“Burton Albion went there at the weekend and Seb Stockbridge was the referee. He gave an early straight red to a Burton player that was never a red card, never a red card. But worse, Burton then held on for 70 minutes and he gave a penalty when the goalkeeper was collecting the ball and a Wrexham forward clattered into him.
“It was laughable, one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen in football. I just wonder whether they get carried away with the whole environment,” he added.
Wrexham criticism seems harsh
It’s very easy to point to the Hollywood ownership at Wrexham and suggest that there are favourable decisions.
That hasn’t really been the case over the course of the season, though, with Wrexham winning just four penalties in 41 League One games this season.
Only seven League One clubs have received fewer penalties this season and Sam Smith has been on the receiving end of some questionable decisions.
Promotion rivals Birmingham City have received 13 penalties, and Wycombe Wanderers have been given nine, both far ahead of Wrexham.
Now, you can point to those two sides maybe being a little trickier around the box and having more opportunities to win penalties.
Yet, if there really was some kind of conscious or subconscious decision to give Wrexham decisions, Parkinson’s side would have surely won more than four penalties this season.
The penalty Smith won on Saturday is nothing we haven’t seen before, either.
Smith chased the ball down, got to the ball first and collided with the Burton goalkeeper.
This exact scenario has happened so many times throughout the EFL this season and we will see it many, many more times in the future.
Wrexham are not the only team to have benefited from this kind of penalty with referees throughout the leagues pointing to the spot in similar situations.
Parkinson fumed over Cambridge United’s penalty against Wrexham last week as a soft penalty was given in the hosts’ favour.
That decision hasn’t really been seen in the mainstream because it didn’t go in Wrexham’s favour, but it was certainly more contentious than the penalty Wrexham won against Burton Albion.
Wrexham sit second because it’s deserved; over the course of the season, Parkinson’s side have been solid, hard to beat and often pulled out results late in the game.
We have heard it all this season with Steve Evans claiming referees favour Wrexham and Mansfield Town’s Nigel Clough suggesting decisions go towards Wrexham.
People can point to referees all they want, but Wrexham are in second place on merit and not some sort of plot to send McElhenney and Reynolds to the Championship.