Jay Rodriguez’s long-awaited first goal for Wrexham came at the most opportune of times for the club over the weekend.
Rodriguez joined Wrexham late in the January transfer window as an offensive reinforcement, putting pen to paper on an 18-month deal at the STōK Cae Ras.
The veteran forward, while being a nuisance up top thanks to his hold-up play and towering stature, struggled to make a goalscoring impact in his first ten games in all competitions for Wrexham – managing just one assist in that time too.
In the weekend’s crunch clash with promotion rivals Stockport County, however, Rodriguez was given a golden opportunity to break his duct from the penalty spot.
And while Rodriguez would miss the controversially given penalty, he was on hand to tap home the rebound to earn Wrexham a crucial three points.
Waynne Phillips backs Jay Rodriguez to score ‘four or five’ goals before the end of the season
Having finally got off the mark for Wrexham against Stockport, speaking after the win to BBC Radio Cymru, ex-Wrexham player Waynne Phillips backed Rodriguez to kick on and score ‘four or five’ more goals during the final eight games of the League One promotion race:
“The longer he goes without a goal, I’m sure it’ll play on his mind,” said Phillips. “It wasn’t the best penalty but he was lucky that the ball fell back to him and he finished it well.
“He could go on a run now and score four or five before the end of the season. That’s what we hope for and that Wrexham keep on winning games.”
If Rodriguez can find said form, then it’ll certainly give Wrexham a real chance of beating Wycombe Wanderers to the second automatic promotion place.
Phil Parkinson’s men are currently leading in the chase in second place, however Wycombe are just three points behind and have a game in hand. Despite that game in hand, a supercomputer has predicted that Wrexham will just edge their rivals out in the race to finish in the top two.
Phil Parkinson praises Rodriguez for performances
Despite the lack of goals, Wrexham boss Parkinson was keen to stress the importance of Rodriguez’s role in the team since joining on 31st January.
Speaking in his post-match interview on Wrexham’s official YouTube channel, the manager said:
“Jay has worked tirelessly for the team, with the ball and out of possession as well.
“He’s a great character to have around but, of course, all strikers want to score. We’ve just been speaking to him about making sure he keeps contributing so we win games of football and we have been doing that, but of course, that moment is key for him and the lads are obviously delighted for him because he deserved it.”