Wrexham v Stoke City: Can Phil Parkinson’s side revive play-off dream?

Defeats by Southampton and Birmingham City ensured Wrexham lost successive league games for the first time since the opening two fixtures of the Championship season.

But despite that, Wrexham remain in the play-off picture at such a pivotal stage of the campaign, in addition to being above numerous established clubs in the table.

Midfielder Oliver Rathbone believes that fact alone should serve as a reminder to those on the outside of the club, of Wrexham’s astonishing rise.

“We’ve lost back-to-back games, so it’s just about reminding ourselves that we’re a very good team and we’ve got four big games to go,” he said.

“I think every fan would have taken being four points off the play-offs with four games to go.

“It’s the first time the club’s been in the second division for a long, long time, coming up against clubs that have been Premier League teams and are ahead of us in a lot of ways.

“So I think it’s important that we just remind ourselves of that, but still go into the last four games and give it everything.”

Despite the recent blip, Parkinson too has remained determined to stay grounded as Wrexham’s focus remains on working their way back into the top six in the final stages of the campaign.

Regardless of the outcome of their run-in, Parkinson noted with delight the culture at the club throughout the course of its rapid rise up the football pyramid.

“We’ve done well up through the divisions and it’s been a meteoric rise for us,” added Parkinson.

“But I’d like to think that, despite the outside exposure the club gets, that we’ve retained our humbleness and tried to keep a culture running through the football club.

“The togetherness of the area, the team, the supporters and the staff has taken us a long way and our aim now is to give our supporters a good finish to the season.”