Lewis O’Brien got his first goal in Wrexham colours on Saturday, scoring in a 3-2 defeat against West Brom.
Lewis O’Brien was a player who Phil Parkinson wanted for a long time. Throughout the summer, Wrexham were being linked with a move for the former Nottingham Forest man. And then, after several weeks of trying, Wrexham eventually signed O’Brien in a £3m deal.
The midfielder was the club record signing until just this week. Wrexham have paid £10m to sign Nathan Broadhead and the Welsh international made his debut. And on Saturday, Wrexham lost 3-2 against West Brom.
It’s back-to-back defeats to open the new championship campaign for the Dragons. But from both games, there have been positives to take.
Lewis O’Brien says Wrexham players are taking positives from West Brom defeat
Speaking after the game, Parkinson spoke to Sky Sports and revealed his anger at the poor defending from Wrexham. Whilst his side showed good spells in attack and had a lot of the ball, their defending ultimately let them down and it is nowhere near the standard needed to keep them in the Championship let alone push for a fourth-straight promotion.
Also speaking after the game, O’Brien shared his delight with getting his first goal under the belt and also revealed that after the game, some words were shared in the changing room, but constructively, as the Dragons looked to bounce back with a game against Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship next weekend.
O’Brien told the club: “The lads are obviously disappointed, but we’ve had some good constructive conversations in the changing room just then. There’s obviously disappointment in the result, but if you look back on it, there’s obviously some positives.
“We’ve come to play against a good Championship team and we’ve controlled the game at some points. We’ve come away from it and we can be positive. There’s obviously a lot of work to do, but we know we’re nearly there.”
What is the most goals Lewis O’Brien has scored in a single season?
O’Brien is a very tenacious midfielder. We’ve seen that in his first few Wrexham appearances, how he’s someone who isn’t shy of a tackle and who can track back and also get forward. But he’s never been much of a goal scorer, nor has he ever claimed too many assists.
His earlier spell with Huddersfield Town was his most prolific, with eight goals and 10 assists in 131 total appearances for the club. But the most goals he’s ever scored in a single season is just four. That came on loan at Bradford City during the 2019 season.
| Team | Games | Goals | Assists |
| Huddersfield | 131 | 8 | 10 |
| Bradford | 46 | 4 | 3 |
| Middlesbrough | 25 | – | 1 |
| D.C. United | 19 | 1 | 1 |
| LAFC | 18 | 1 | 1 |
| Forest | 17 | 1 | 0 |
| Swansea | 16 | 1 | 0 |
| Wrexham | 3 | 1 | 0 |
In more recent spells with Nottingham Forest, and then on loan with the likes of DC United, Middlesbrough, Los Angeles FC, and Swansea, O’Brien has scored a total of just three goals.
But he now has one goal in two league appearances for Wrexham, and with personal goals and assists targets set, this could well be O’Brien’s best year in front of goal.