Wrexham are back in League One action once again on Tuesday night, welcoming an in-form Leyton Orient side to the STōK Cae Ras.
The race for promotion to the Championship continues on Tuesday night as Wrexham are back in action once again.
Phil Parkinson is embracing this busy period with Wrexham already set to play a fifth game in February.
Leyton Orient are the visitors on Tuesday night and this promises to be a tricky evening for Wrexham.
Orient are on fire right now, winning 11 of their last 14 League One games to put themselves in the play-off race.
Richie Wellens has praised Wrexham but the Orient boss will be looking to inflict a rare home defeat on Parkinson.
Mark Howard repaid Phil Parkinson faith in unexpected fashion
Parkinson will be weighing up changes as he juggles commitments in League One and the EFL Trophy right now.
A number of positions will be under the spotlight for Parkinson but his goalkeeping selection may already have been made.
Arthur Okonkwo is an incredible talent but his return from injury hasn’t quite gone to plan.
Okonkwo was far from convincing against Stevenage and has now paid the price.
Parkinson explained benching Okonkwo, believing that he had mistakenly rushed him back into the starting XI following a broken wrist.
Veteran Mark Howard has been given the nod and Parkinson kept his word in terms of giving Okonkwo a break from first-team action.
Okonkwo kept a clean sheet against Bolton Wanderers in the EFL Trophy and it would have been easy to just throw him back in.
Parkinson stayed true though and went with Howard once more against Northampton Town.
The experienced stopper kept a valuable clean sheet but rewarded Parkinson’s faith in unexpected fashion by notching an assist.
Howard’s long ball forward caught out the Northampton defence and allowed Wrexham’s January signing Sam Smith to open his account.
Smith celebrated his goal on social media and received a simple message from Howard – ‘you’re welcome’ – as the stopper celebrated his assist.
Goalkeeping assists are rare and whilst Parkinson’s main focus will be on the clean sheet, we would forgive the Wrexham boss for having a smile on his face as Howard set up Wrexham’s opener.
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Mark Howard surely set to keep his place
At the moment, it looks like Okonkwo is Wrexham’s cup goalkeeper as he builds up sharpness and confidence once again.
Injured stopper Callum Burton is on the road to recovery but isn’t expected to return to first-team action any time soon.
That means Howard looks likely to keep his place for the foreseeable future, starting with Tuesday’s clash against Orient.
Howard certainly has Parkinson’s trust having also worked together at Bolton Wanderers, and he hasn’t let Wrexham down when called upon this season.
Okonkwo will likely take his place back at some stage, but Howard has the shirt for now and has earned the right to keep it.