Wrexham welcome Birmingham City to the STōK Cae Ras on Thursday night with Phil Parkinson chasing a big win.
Wrexham have a chance to make a real statement as Birmingham City arrive at the STōK Cae Ras.
Last Thursday brought a painful defeat as Wrexham served up a dire display in a 2-1 defeat at Shrewsbury Town.
Losing a derby always stings but Wrexham’s flat performance was a real concern.
Fixture changes mean Wrexham are again playing on a Thursday night and will this time host Birmingham City.
A win over big-spending Birmingham would close the gap to top spot to just two points and Wrexham would really lay down a marker with a win.
Wrexham target expected to start for Birmingham City
All eyes will be on the STōK Cae Ras with major celebrity involvement from Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, as well as Birmingham’s Tom Brady.
It’s on the pitch where the game will be won and lost though and one man in the Blues side will be familiar to Wrexham fans.
Wrexham wanted to sign Marc Leonard over the summer having been impressed with the Scottish midfielder on loan at Northampton Town.
Birmingham won the race for Leonard though, paying around £500,000 to sign him from Brighton and Hove Albion.
Parkinson claimed Birmingham signed Wrexham targets over the summer and that surely points towards Leonard.
The 23-year-old hasn’t really made the desired impact this season though, struggling for first-team starts.
Leonard has started Birmingham’s last three games though and is starting to finally make a mark for the Blues.
“Marc is probably one of the best players in the league that doesn’t play all the time,” boss Chris Davies told the Birmingham Mail in December.
“He’s got real quality but he’s got very good players in the team as well. When he has come on in games, he has come on in a bit of a higher role in Willum’s position, his best position is probably a bit deeper, but he reads the game really well, he rarely gives the ball away and he makes good decisions.
“He knows what this league is all about and he competes well. I said to them inside that I thought every sub improved us and that’s a good sign,” he added.
Birmingham midfielders Paik Seung-ho and Tomoki Iwata are set to miss out against Wrexham through injury.
That means Leonard will be primed to start a fourth game in a row – and he will be looking to show Wrexham what they are missing.
Maybe Leonard would have played more football at Wrexham but Ollie Rathbone ended up arriving instead – and few Wrexham fans would argue against that signing right now.
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Wrexham should continue targeting players like Marc Leonard
Wrexham seemingly missed out on Leonard but we could certainly get behind targeting similar players.
Parkinson has relied heavily on experienced players throughout Wrexham’s rise.
We did though see a move towards signing younger talents who had shown potential after loan moves.
Lewis Brunt, Sebastian Revan and Modou Faal were all signed in such circumstances whilst Arthur Okonkwo turned his Wrexham loan move permanent.
Leonard would have fit into that module perfectly and whilst Wrexham were pipped by Birmingham, more targets of this ilk would get us excited for the future.