Wrexham have rekindled their chances of making the Sky Bet Championship play-offs with a convincing 2-0 victory over Stoke at home. Following Hull's draw with Birmingham, Wrexham have narrowed the gap to sixth place to just two points, with three matches remaining. The atmosphere at the SToK Cae Ras was tense after consecutive losses to Southampton and Birmingham, but two first-half goals, scored by George Thomason and Josh Windass within 69 seconds of each other, helped alleviate the tension.
This loss marked Stoke's sixth consecutive away defeat, and the team has dropped to 17th place. Wrexham's manager, Phil Parkinson, made four changes to the lineup after back-to-back defeats, including the notable switch in goal.
Wales international Danny Ward, who had not played since dislocating his elbow in late August, was chosen to start over Arthur Okonkwo. Wrexham began the match with urgency and had an early call for a penalty when Sam Smith was pushed over by Bosun Lawal. Referee Adam Herczeg was uninterested, and it's possible the contact occurred outside the box.
Thomason advanced 50 yards unchallenged after taking the ball from Sorba Thomas and sent a shot straight at Gavin Bazunu. Wrexham's momentum slowed due to Stoke's efficient offside trap. The breakthrough came after Lawal failed to clear George Dobson's free-kick, and Ollie Rathbone's effort was cleared off the line by Ben Pearson. Thomason's resulting corner in the 31st minute flew over the head of Bazunu and into the net, with Windass attempting to help it over the line.
Just over a minute later, Windass scored his 13th league goal of the season, capitalizing on Aaron Cresswell's mistake to slot past Bazunu. After the break, Stoke showed some ambition, and Dan Scarr blocked Bae Jun-ho's goalbound effort. Wrexham almost scored a third when Thomason charged down the left and crossed.
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi's panicked clearance struck Smith and flew to safety when it could have easily embarrassed the defender. Smith headed over after Thomason and Windass combined, and Bazunu failed to collect. Stoke came close to halving the deficit in the closing moments when Lamine Cisse struck the crossbar from close range, and their final hopes evaporated when Million Manhoef drove wide. Wrexham's 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.' Parkinson also mentioned that he didn't know the score at Hull until he was coming off the tunnel and someone told him the game was still going but was 1-1. He viewed this as a bonus and acknowledged that Birmingham, who had done Wrexham a favor, was a good side. Parkinson expressed his intention to keep the momentum going until the end of the season.
Stoke's manager noted that there wasn't much difference in the match until two crucial moments and emphasized the need to address several issues. The £250,000 is up for grabs with Super 6, and as always, it is completely free to play, with entries accepted until 3 pm on Saturday.