Wrexham have rekindled their Sky Bet Championship play-off ambitions after securing a 2-0 victory over Stoke at home. Following Hull's draw with Birmingham, Wrexham have narrowed the gap to sixth place to two points, with three games remaining. The home side's consecutive defeats to Southampton and Birmingham had created an atmosphere of apprehension at the SToK Cae Ras, but first-half goals from George Thomason and Josh Windass, scored within 69 seconds of each other, alleviated the tension.
For Stoke, this loss marked their sixth consecutive away defeat, resulting in a drop to 17th place. Wrexham's manager, Phil Parkinson, made four changes to the lineup, including a notable switch in goal, with Wales international Danny Ward replacing Arthur Okonkwo. Wrexham began the match with urgency, and an early penalty claim was made after Sam Smith was shoved by Bosun Lawal, but the referee remained uninterested. The breakthrough came when Lawal failed to clear George Dobson's free-kick, and Ollie Rathbone's effort was cleared off the line by Ben Pearson.
Thomason's subsequent corner in the 31st minute sailed over the head of Gavin Bazunu and into the net, with Windass attempting to assist. Windass scored his 13th league goal of the season just over a minute later, capitalizing on Aaron Cresswell's mistake to slot past Bazunu. Stoke displayed some ambition after the break, but Wrexham were almost gifted a third goal when Jesurun Rak-Sakyi's panicked clearance struck Smith and flew to safety.
In the closing moments, Stoke came close to narrowing the deficit when Lamine Cisse struck the crossbar from close range, but their final hopes dissipated when Million Manhoef drove wide. Phil Parkinson stated, 'The aim has been to take this to the wire, and that's what we spoke to the lads about. Let's not hand the play-off place to the other teams.' He also acknowledged the bonus of Hull's draw with Birmingham, saying, 'Now we go to Oxford and let's just see if we can keep this going right to the end.'