Wrexham are starting to see quality players return from injury, with Ollie Rathbone potentially set to join that list.
Wrexham beat Reading 2-0 in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, advancing to the fourth round of the competition in the process.
Record signing Nathan Broadhead was the star of the night, scoring twice in the second half to send Wrexham through.
Broadhead has been nursing a calf problem of late, while fellow summer signing George Thomason finally made his first start for the club.
Players are returning from injury, with Josh Windass bagging a brace on his return to action against Norwich City over the weekend.
Phil Parkinson on Ollie Rathbone’s return
Wrexham have grabbed two wins in the last few days, and seeing returning players make such a big impact is a real boost for Parkinson.
Broadhead, Thomason and Windass can all make a big impact, but we must not forget about Ollie Rathbone.
Midfielder Rathbone suffered an injury in pre-season and has been on a long journey back to fitness ever since.
Parkinson praised Rathbone’s efforts in training last week and has now offered an update on the midfielder’s comeback.
Speaking on Wrexham’s official YouTube channel, Parkinson admitted that Rathbone was ‘great’ in a training session on Tuesday morning.
Wrexham coach David Jones worked with Rathbone as well as Windass, Ben Sheaf and Dominic Hyam in an attempt to build up their fitness levels.
Parkinson is delighted with what he has seen from Rathbone and believes he will be a great asset for Wrexham upon his return.
“Ollie Rathbone trained great today,” said Parkinson.
“I went to watch him train this morning, David Jones took a really good session with Ben Sheaf, Dom [Hyam], Ollie and Josh Windass, so it’s great to have him available as well, and what an asset he’s going to be when he’s ready,” he added.
Ollie Rathbone could return to a very different midfield setup at Wrexham
Rathbone started slowly last season, but became virtually undroppable as he turned in consistently brilliant performances in League One.
The former Rotherham United midfielder hit eight goals in 41 games to fire Wrexham to promotion and become a fan favourite in the process.
Rathbone’s return would be a boost for everybody at Wrexham, though he may need to adjust to a different midfield setup.
Parkinson has played a 3-5-2 system for most of his time in charge of Wrexham, and Rathbone slotted in perfectly as a box-to-box midfielder.
Parkinson is now switching to a 3-4-2-1 system, featuring two holding midfielders and two attacking midfielders.
Rathbone’s role in that system isn’t quite as clear; playing him as a deep midfielder would waste his attacking qualities, but he also isn’t really a creative player to play off Kieffer Moore.
The latter would make more sense for Rathbone, given his eye for goal, but he could return to a very different Wrexham side after his pre-season injury.