It took Wrexham time, but they have finally gotten going in the Championship as they inch closer to guaranteeing a play-off spot.
Red Dragons fans have been on top of the world for a few years now. Three seasons ago they were watching their favourite team in National League, but three straight promotions took them to the Championship.
And now, just 11 games away from the end of the second tier, they find themselves on the brink of play-off football.
How have Wrexham been pushing teams away from the Championship top six?
Post-Christmas form
Things looked rather bleak for Wrexham for around a month, between mid-January and mid-February. Just two wins from six games – an unconvincing one against struggling Sheffield Wednesday and a dramatic stoppage-time comeback playing against 10-men Queens Park Rangers.
Other than that, home losses to Norwich City and Millwall and draws against poor Leicester City and Bristl City sides.
It left fans frustrated considering they had been playing well just before this run. Four straight wins including three against tough-to-beat sides like Sheffield United, Preston North End and Derby County.
Some fans even started wondering if Phil Parkinson was the right man to lead them into their quest for a fourth straight promotion. Well, he and the team have responded as well as they could.
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It’s now another active win streak – of three games this time. It started with a 5-3 win vs Ipswich Town, who had been playing great and are still looking for automatic promotion. Wrexham actually beat them twice in eight days, if you include an FA Cup tie.
Then they did their homework against lesser opponents Portsmouth and Charlton. Though Pompey have been playing well as of late.
It just happened that it took the Red Dragons some time. When you win so many promotions in a row, there are a lot of changes to the squad in order to not only survive in the superior tier, but aim for the next one.
Since the Boxing Day matchweek, Wrexham have won more points and scored more goals than any other team in the division.
Before that, just seven points separated 6th (Millwall) and 16th (Blackburn) place. Now, Wrexham sit 6th four points clear of 7th-placed Southampton. The seven-point gap is now between 6th and 10th (Bristol City).
Collective effort
When you look at the Wrexham squad, it’s hard to point at one specific player who has been driving their success this season. The main impression is that it’s a club-wide, collective effort from the owners to the board to the coaching staff to the players.
The Red Dragons are actually one of just three teams with five or more players with 5+ goals scored in the current Championship season.
Kieffer Moore is their top goalscorer with 11 goals, but he’s been in and out of the lineup recently. Sam Smith has been starting – and scoring – more often as of late. Five of his six league goals have come in the calendar year of 2026.
Smith is actually a success story in a different manner as well. His only previous experience in the Championship had been eight games as a teenager for Reading in 2017-18.
Arthur Okonkwo, Max Cleworth, George Thomason and George Dobson had never played above League One in his career and they’re all contributing.
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It is true that Wrexham have spent a lot of money on signings over the past two transfer windows. Still, their squad isn’t exactly stacked with talent. And they have suffered with a few injuries to key players, which makes Phil Parkinson’s efforts even more impressive.
Right now, play-off football might not suit them too much. The Red Dragons excel in adversity, but usually struggle ahead. They rank 3rd in the league for points won from losing positions (18), a testament to their character and spirit. But they are also joint-first in points dropped from winning positions (22), alongside Blackburn.
Wrexham have proven they can score, recording multiple impressive wins by large and chaotic scores. 5-3 vs Ipswich and Sheffield United, 3-2 vs QPR, Coventry and Norwich, and so on. Their return of 54 goals scored is the joint-fifth best in the division. But they rank 12th in goals conceded (45).
Things are still mixed up enough that the play-off picture could change in just a few matchweeks. Good and poor runs of form could make or break some teams’ seasons – Wrexham included. But they have made sure recently that the gap to the rest increases rather than shrinks.