Phil Parkinson must change Wrexham AFC priority to win Wycombe, Stockport promotion tussle | OneFootball

Wrexham boss needs to change his starting 11 if Wrexham are to finish in the top two

As the race for promotion heats up in League One, every point dropped will be magnified.

Only two points currently separate Wrexham from Wycombe Wanderers for that coveted second spot, which comes with an automatic place in the Championship next season.

On Tuesday, the Red Dragons managed to stay within a game of the Chairboys, defeating Huddersfield Town 1-0 thanks to Steven Fletcher's goal. At the same time, the overall performance of Phil Parkinson’s men still left plenty to be desired despite defeating a play-off contender. A third successive promotion is potentially in the cards, but to get to the Championship, Wrexham’s manager needs to make some bold moves to his lineup.

Parkinson must go for broke to get Wrexham over the line

It’s easy to be happy and praise Parkinson given this team’s current standing, and once again, the 57-year-old has done a terrific job keeping his side in the hunt for promotion.

At the same time, his cautious approach could also be the reason Wrexham fall short of the top two. Even in their victory on Tuesday, Parkinson’s priorities were clear when his starting 11 was announced: rely on your workhorses in central midfield to destabilise the opposition’s attacks, and hope to snatch a late winner. It’s an approach that just about worked versus Huddersfield, thanks to a scrappy goal from super-sub Fletcher after seeing off a pretty dominant first half from the Terriers.

As exciting as it is to win in the fashion we’ve seen from the Red Dragons often this season, playing safe for so long could come back to bite them by the end of the season. On Tuesday, Parkinson went with George Dobson and Matty James in central midfield for a second match running.

They were each solid for Wrexham, keeping the Terriers neutralised in transitional moments, but neither were all that sharp in terms of ball progression. Dobson was hooked on 49 minutes, helping Wrexham grow into the game.

Allowing the opposition to have most of the ball like we saw again on Tuesday has been an approach that Parkinson’s not wavered from since the start of the season, and it’s helped Wrexham collect the joint second-most clean sheets in the league (16).

On the other hand, work ethic can only take you so far, and if they want to make it easy on themselves and finish in the top two, Parkinson needs to find more creativity in the midfield because James and Dobson can’t help them out in that department.

The Red Dragons are 12th in the league when it comes to big chances (65) and 12th for expected goals (50.4).

Two of their upcoming opponents are in the top five in those respective categories, with Stockport County first in big chances (86) and expected goals (50.4). Wycombe are fourth in terms of big chances (80) and third in XGs (48.8).

Wrexham face Wycombe on March 15 and Stockport seven days later. Both of which are going to be hugely significant games for the North-Welsh side if they are to claim second.

Elliot Lee and Ryan Barnett are Wrexham's answer

The last thing Wrexham supporters want is to see this team in the play-offs, given the heartache those matches have caused them in the past.

We are nearing the end of this 46-match marathon, and Wrexham are behind and have to make a move before it’s too late. That means their Chorley-born coach needs to go with players who are proven chance creators and most likely to find the back of the net.

Unfortunately, one of Wrexham's best central midfielders in terms of creativity won’t be able to help, as Andy Cannon is done for the season with a knee injury.

Ryan Longman and Ollie Rathbone have been among the better chance creators over the past month or so, but it is another two have been underutilised in recent matches.

Ryan Barnett is one of them, who only featured for 18 minutes on Tuesday, while Elliot Lee missed some time to recover from a car crash but played most of the second half versus Huddersfield.

Barnett traditionally plays down the right, but Longman can be effective and is capable of playing on the left. That’s one idea Parkinson should examine closely. Barnett still leads the league in assists (eight), and his balls into the box, along with Longman’s dribbling and distribution, would make Wrexham a more dynamic attacking side.

Meanwhile, for all of Lee’s ups and downs this season, he’s still among the most quality attacking players Wrexham have got. He’s tied with Max Cleworth for the most goals in the league this season (seven).

Wrexham have managed to hang around in the race for the Championship, but if they can’t get over the line, who knows when they’ll get a better opportunity?

It’s time to throw caution to the wind and have Parkinson put in all his chips and take a chance. The priority can't be how solid Wrexham are anymore, the priority has to be creating enough to win huge football matches.