James McClean netted his first goal of the season as Wrexham came from behind to beat Port Vale 2-1 in their EFL Trophy group game.
Wrexham finished top of North Group B in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday after beating Port Vale in front of nearly 8,000 fans at the Racecourse.
The Reds had already progressed into the knockout stages of the competition. They’d beaten Newcastle United under 21s 1-0 and Crewe Alexandra 3-0 to make it through.
As a result, Phil Parkinson made 11 changes to the side that knocked Mansfield Town out of the FA Cup on Saturday.
Wrexham went a goal down in the first half
Port Vale were on top in the first half as a much-changed Wrexham side struggled to get a foothold in the game.
Jake Bickerstaff had Wrexham’s first real chance of the game. In the 17th minute his right footed strike from the edge of the box forced a good save from Jayson Leutwiler.
The visitors broke the deadlock after the half hour mark when Josh Thomas finished off a well-worked move from close range, after Gavin Massey capitalised on Dan Davies’ poor positioning.
McClean grabs first goal of the season to complete comeback
Phil Parkinson had seen enough after the hour mark, and made a triple substitution to get back into the game. He turned to the experience of James Jones, Paul Mullin and James McClean to nick a goal back.
10 minutes later, McClean and Mullin linked up to bring the home side level.
McClean drove down the left flank and fired a driven cross into the path of Mullin who finished with aplomb.
The Ireland international wasn’t done there though. With just seven minutes remaining, McClean directed a header into the back of the net from a Luke Young corner to score his first goal for the club and complete the comeback.
The Reds saw out the rest of the game as it finished 2-1.
Wrexham were already qualified for the knockout stages and will now have a home draw in the last 32 of a competition they won in 2005.