Phil Parkinson is gearing up for a big game this weekend as Wrexham travel to take on Wigan Athletic in League One.
The race for second place in the League One table is now down to a five-game shootout between Wrexham and Wycombe Wanderers.
Wycombe beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 on Tuesday night, winning their game in hand to cut Wrexham’s lead to three points.
That is Wycombe’s game in hand out of the way now, so the pursuit for second place and automatic promotion to League One comes down to these next five games.
Next up for Wrexham is a trip to Wigan Athletic, who have won just two of their last 14 League One outings.
Phil Parkinson will be busy preparing for the trip to the Brick Community Stadium this weekend but may have had one eye on the Central League on Tuesday.
Ollie Palmer starts in Wrexham Central League draw
Wrexham’s reserves have been playing Central League games this season with fringe first-team players often in action.
Tuesday saw Wrexham welcome Chesterfield to Colliers Park, with David Jones able to call upon some first-team names.
The ever-brilliant Wrexham AFC Archive show that Ollie Palmer started in the Wrexham attack against Chesterfield, partnering fellow target man Modou Faal.
Brad Foster and Sebastian Revan were both given starts, whilst Josh Adam featured as he seeks to win a contract extension at Wrexham.
Faal got himself on the scoresheet, drawing Wrexham level just five minutes after Chesterfield had gone in front.
Rio Owen then secured a point for Wrexham, coming off the bench to make it 2-2 late in the day, securing a draw.
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No sign of Paul Mullin
One name missing from that Central League lineup was Paul Mullin.
Mullin scored against Mansfield Town in the Central League last month, taking a chance to shine in a reserves clash.
Mullin has barely featured for Wrexham since the end of the January transfer window and finds himself out of favour right now.
Tuesday’s game would have been another chance for Mullin to gain some match sharpness, but he wasn’t named in the squad.
Perhaps Jay Rodriguez’s injury against Burton Albion on Saturday is a concern ahead of facing Wigan this weekend, and Mullin was kept out of the Central League clash to stay fresh for the weekend – even if only from the bench.
That may be wishful thinking at this point, but we just want to see Mullin pull on that Wrexham shirt before this promotion-chasing season ends.
We feel the exact same about Palmer, too, for that matter, but as each game passes by without the duo in action, the belief that their Wrexham careers are coming to an end only grows stronger.