Wrexham inch ever so close to promotion after beating Blackpool that sees them gain ground on third straight promotion.
Wrexham inch closer to promotion as The Championship may have to start preparing for Hollywood.
After a nearly ideal day for them in League One’s turbulent automatic promotion battle, Wrexham is still very much in the running for a third consecutive promotion. Their screenplays are written by whom?
Wrexham took full advantage of their rivals Wycombe’s 4-0 home loss to Charlton, which caused them to drop out of the top two, by overwhelming Blackpool with a strong second-half performance that was highlighted by goals from Oliver Rathbone and James McClean. The Welsh team trails Birmingham, the champions, by two points, followed by the Chairboys (86), Charlton (82), and Stockport (81), who defeated Huddersfield.
No team has ever achieved three straight promotions in the top five divisions, and Wrexham is just two victories away from creating English football history. It would be quite the trek to go from non-league to the second tier in three years.
It’s no surprise that a large number of visiting supporters travelled up the M6 for this one. After Wrexham had drawn three of their previous four games, the boisterous, sold-out crowd of 2,000 away supporters cheered Phil Parkinson’s team on to victory in what could have been another tripwire.
“There was a bit of negativity, I would imagine, after we didn’t win last week but the lads blocked that out,” Parkinson said. “And we’re not going to get carried away the other way because people will start thinking we’ve done the job now.”
With just three losses since losing to Wrexham on Boxing Day, Blackpool entered the match with an outside chance of making the playoffs, but this loss ensures they will most likely play League One football again the following season. While Leyton Orient and Reading, who won at Cambridge and Mansfield, respectively, appear destined to compete for the final playoff berth, Charlton and Stockport’s wins guarantee them top-six finishes.
Wrexham owes a great deal to Charlton and that successful outcome 220 miles away in Buckinghamshire for all of their efforts at Blackpool. With Wrexham’s destiny once again in their own hands, Parkinson wasn’t really interested in discussing favours from other clubs.
“We can control one thing and that’s our mindset,” Parkinson said. “It’s going to be completely feet on the floor and we’re going to come out fighting to finish the season off well. It’s about performance level. If at the end of the season we haven’t got promotion but we’ve played well, I can live with that.”