Wrexham assistant manager Steve Parkin called their 2-1 come-from-behind win over Sheffield United one of the biggest results of Phil Parkinson’s reign as they kept their Championship playoff push on track.
The Red Dragons arrived at Bramall Lane needing to bounce back from Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to Watford, a second defeat in three that led to them dropping out of the top six, and then started second best to a Sheffield United side who led through Andre Brooks’ 49th-minute goal.
But Sam Smith set up former Sheffield Wednesday striker Josh Windass to level against his old rivals before heading in a 78th-minute winner that sparked huge celebrations from the Wrexham players and staff at the final whistle as they stayed level on points with sixth-placed Southampton.
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“In the five years we’ve been here now, that’s in our top 10 of the games we probably needed to win, and we needed to keep our run going,” Parkin said.
“A few people wrote us off after the Watford game, we’ve got a few injuries and a few players who would ordinarily be in and around the team not available at the moment, and that was a big effort from the lads psychologically to turn the tables on a good side after the disappointment of Tuesday night.
“That’s really right up there as one of our best wins.”
After an unprecedented run of three consecutive promotions, Wrexham’s hopes of a fourth are very much alive. After the international break they will go away to West Brom before Southampton visit the Racecourse Ground.
“We just want to be part of the party at the end of the year,” Parkin added. “We want to be one of the teams pushing to be in the playoffs. We want to be in and around it.
“We’ve got great games coming up. We’ve got games against the big teams which is important.
“Why wouldn’t we want to be in a division that’s spectacular in terms of attendances and the games, and why wouldn’t we want to be involved in the shake-up? So that’s why it was such a big game.”
Sheffield United are now winless in four, and 13 points off the top six, their hopes of an unlikely playoff push of their own over after they failed to capitalise on outstanding early chances for Patrick Bamford and Harrison Burrows before blowing the lead they did take.
Chris Wilder said: “Wrexham found a way to win, they had that quality, and we found a way to lose.
“The first 10-15 minutes they found some opportunities and then after that for me we had the lion’s share of control of possession and chances but we have to score and take advantage of our good play.
“There’s always going to be a reaction after [we] go up, but we really should have been out of sight because we had our foot on their throat for half an hour and the first five or 10 minutes of the second half.”