Wrexham find themselves in third place in League One after an impressive start, with a third consecutive promotion still firmly on the cards.
Wrexham beat promotion rivals Mansfield Town last Saturday to consolidate their position on the heels of the automatic promotion places. The Red Dragons face Stockport County this weekend, knowing that a win could take them up into second place due to Birmingham not playing.
Such heights may not have been expected of Phil Parkinson’s side so quickly in League One, given the jump in the standard of squads in the division compared to last season.
Even the Red Dragon promotion rivals have been impressed after Bolton boss Ian Evatt praised Wrexham’s League One start. These rivals are not to be ignored, though, with almost every side in the division still eying the four precious playoff positions.
One person who is certainly switched on to the challenge is Parkinson, who has spoken about Wrexham’s pursuit of the Championship.
Phil Parkinson reflects on ‘early’ League One promotion race
Speaking to the BBC ahead of the Stockport County clash, Parkinson expressed caution when it comes to predicting Wrexham’s promotion hopes.
He said: “It’s very difficult to predict. There are so many teams that will be fancying their chances, but it’s still early in the season. We’ve just got to keep our heads down, and concentrate on what we have to do.”
Alongside this caution, Parkinson was keen to emphasise the strength of Wrexham’s promotion rivals, highlighting the challenge that the Red Dragons will face to keep up their momentum.
Parkinson said: “Some people are looking at Wycombe and thinking they’re a surprise package but they’re a team who were in the Championship not that long ago. There’s teams all the way down in 14th when you look at them and think they could be up there.”
Clearly, if Wrexham are able to secure promotion this season it would be their greatest achievement since Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the club.
However, the sheer volume of clubs that Parkinson will be competing against to secure this achievement will be like nothing the Red Dragons have had to face previously.
How Wrexham’s promotion push compares to previous successes
Currently, just five points separate Wrexham in third to Bolton Wanderers in tenth, with just four more points needed to reach the league leaders, Wycombe Wanderers.
Clearly, then, Wrexham will need to keep up an incredibly consistent pace to remain in the race for promotion, something they haven’t necessarily had to do in their two previous promotion successes.
When Wrexham won promotion from League Two last season, they were a massive ten points above the gap between the automatic promotion and playoff positions. Even if they were to drop out of the automatic positions, Wrexham had a 19-point cushion between eighth place Barrow.
The story was even more emphatic in Wrexham’s National League promotion triumph. Finishing on a staggering 111 points, the Red Dragons held a 42-point lead over Southend United outside the playoff positions.
Regardless of the other teams, Wrexham achieving promotion this season would be remarkable. However, the competition they will continue to face in League One will make the task much harder for the Wrexham squad than ever before.