Wrexham travel to Huddersfield Town this week for a clash between two teams in the play-off places, but there’s an argument to be made that the Red Dragons have gone backwards since the last meeting.
After a 0-0 draw against Bolton Wanderers on Saturday afternoon, Wrexham are now just two points away from second-placed Wycombe Wanderers in the League One table with 13 games to go.
The Red Dragons got a big promotion boost thanks to Wycombe’s defeat to Birmingham City, and could well find themselves securing a place in the Championship by the end of the season.
But, Phil Parkinson’s men have struggled for consistency of late. As we look ahead to the next game against Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night, it’s clear Wrexham have regressed in at least one key area.
Wrexham were on fire back in October
Wrexham and Huddersfield played out a 0-0 draw at the Racecourse Ground earlier in the season, and as we turn our attention to the upcoming fixture at the Kirklees Stadium, we’ve been digging into Michael Duff’s comments about the previous meeting between the two teams.
Speaking back in October (via Huddersfield’s club website), Duff said: “I thought second half we took control of the game and if anyone was going to win it, I thought it was going to be us. We tweaked a few things at half-time and gave ourselves a platform to get a point.
“A clean sheet against a team which has scored 15 goals in five games is not bad at all and a draw was probably a fair result in the end. We have seen signs of improvement, coming away with a point against a club with real momentum. We stuck together and grew into the game.”
The idea of Wrexham being on a run of scoring an average of three goals per game seems a distant memory these days. Indeed, the Red Dragons haven’t scored more than two goals in a league match since the 3-0 win over Exeter City back at the end of November.
With Wrexham going backwards when it comes to their form in front of goal, and Duff already having managed to keep them at bay at a more prolific time of the season, can Huddersfield go one better at the second time of asking?
Wrexham have persevered through team spirit alone
Goals have never been a problem for Wrexham in the past. Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer pretty much dealt with that aspect of the game between themselves in the National League and League Two, but those days are long gone now.
Wrexham have scored 48 goals this season (an average of 1.45 per game). That’s a lower total than Barnsley, Leyton Orient, Bolton, and Blackpool, who all sit below Wrexham in the table, and it’s a massive ten goals less than their promotion rivals Wycombe.
It’s become a real issue now for Wrexham. Bolton fans noticed the weakness at the weekend, with a number of good chances wasted by the Red Dragons’ attackers.
While the number of chances being created isn’t a problem, clearly, there is something going very wrong when it comes to actually putting the ball in the back of the net.
| Player | Goals |
| Max Cleworth | 8 |
| Elliott Lee | 8 |
| Steven Fletcher | 6 |
| Oliver Rathbone | 5 |
| Jack Marriott | 5 |
One can only assume it’s a confidence issue. Naturally, the fact that no Wrexham player has managed to go on a real goalscoring run this season says it all, and the lack of momentum within the side is surely damaging in the grand scheme of things.
Phil Parkinson needs to find a way to get the best out of Sam Smith as soon as possible, or this bluntness in front of goal will cost Wrexham promotion.