Phil Parkinson gives honest verdict on Wrexham defeat to Barnsley – he’s baffled by one thing

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Wrexham suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Barnsley, getting their 2025 off to a negative start.

Wrexham had been on a solid run of form before their trip to Yorkshire, not losing a league match since November versus Stockport County.

However, Phil Parkinson knows his side are not great on the road and it was clear he set his team up to try and keep Barnsley quiet.

But the manager’s changes had the complete opposite impact in the first half, with the home team taking a 2-0 lead after 36 minutes.

Max Cleworth pulled a goal back late on but in the end, Wrexham lost 2-1 against Barnsley and are now third in the division behind new leaders Wycombe Wanderers and Birmingham City.

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Phil Parkinson verdict on Wrexham defeat to Barnsley

Wrexham’s defending vs Barnsley was poor, which is pretty unlikely them this season as they did have the joint-best defence in League One this term prior to Wednesday.

At the other end of the pitch, the American-owned club offered zero attacking threat in the first half but that changed following Steven Fletcher’s introduction.

The Scotsman had Wrexham’s first shot on target minutes after replacing Ollie Palmer, while his presence seemed to kick Paul Mullin into life.

In the end, despite their late barrage, the Red Dragons couldn’t get an equaliser and now, as per BBC Sport, Parkinson has given his verdict on the game and was left baffled by the fact his team didn’t get at least a point.

He said: “How we haven’t got something out of that game I’ll never know.

“We’ve had things cleared off the line, headers from five yards out not gone in the back of the net.

“We’ve completely dominated the second half. It was an outstanding effort from the lads to get back into the game. The lads have given absolutely everything.”

• READ MORE: Wrexham fans in total agreement about one thing vs Barnsley – two players were especially bad

Wrexham next five League One fixtures compared to promotion rivals

While Wrexham probably did deserve at least a draw for their efforts on January 1st, the fact is they lost and have now given themselves a big mountain to climb when it comes to catching their rivals.

Second-place Birmingham are two points ahead of them with a game in hand, as are table-topping Wycombe with one game in hand.

The race for automatic promotion is still fairly tight, but Wrexham will have to start putting together a decent string of results if they want to gain ground on their fellow promotion chasers.