Wrexham missed the chance to move within a point of the Championship playoff places after they suffered a 2-0 defeat by Birmingham at St Andrew’s. The visitors’ hopes of an unprecedented fourth straight promotion were dealt a massive blow after they were beaten for a second consecutive match which leaves them four points behind sixth-placed Hull with four games to play.
After their 5-1 defeat by Southampton, Wrexham have now suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since August. Phil Parkinson, the Wrexham manager, said: “We’ve had a tough week this week. But we’re not down and out yet. It’s not over yet.
“People will probably write us off and you can understand that to a certain degree, but inside the dressing room, we’re not writing ourselves off and we’re one win away from getting ourselves going again.”
A string of first-half saves from Arthur Okonkwo stopped Birmingham from taking a deserved lead before the break but there was nothing he could do at the start of the second period to stop Carlos Vicente from nodding in his third goal for the club since joining in January.
Chris Davies’ side had lost three in a row coming into the contest but oozed confidence in front of a full house which was capped by Christoph Klarer stabbing in a second to seal the points.
Wrexham were toothless in attack and failed to register a shot on James Beadle’s goal. The goalkeeper was simply a bystander in a dominant Birmingham performance which helped lift them to 15th in the table.
With Wrexham chasing the playoffs, Birmingham might have expected a much stiffer contest but instead cruised their to a first win in over a month. The hosts started on the front foot and forced Okonkwo into a couple of early saves to deny a pair of headers from Ibrahim Osman and August Priske, albeit in comfortable fashion.
Birmingham continued to be dominant but were unable to find a way past Okonkwo, who had to react quickly to stop Vicente from poking the home side in front. Wrexham were yet to make their mark in the attacking third and had been limited to just a couple of efforts from long range courtesy of Oliver Rathbone and Callum Doyle.
Wrexham just about managed to settle but had to rely on Okonkwo for a fifth time to stop Vicente in a one-on-one after a long and hopeful ball upfield to keep it goalless at half-time.
But, the hosts finally got their reward with the opener three minutes after the break. Kai Wagner sent a delivery into the area and Vicente jumped highest at the far post to head home. Birmingham remained in the ascendancy while searching for a second and some neat link-up play between Priske and Jay Stansfield ended with the latter shooting high and over the crossbar.
Phil Parkinson brought on Josh Windass and Nathan Broadhead in an attempt to get something clicking at the top end of the pitch for Wrexham, who had produced very little with a quarter of the game to go.
Birmingham were relentless and doubled their lead in the 71st minute. An inswinging corner from Paik Seung-ho found Klarer at the far post and he muscled Max Cleworth out the way then stabbed in from close range which was enough to wrap up a much-needed win.
Chris Davies, the Birmingham manager, said: “I really enjoyed watching the team today, I thought we were excellent throughout. When the opposition doesn’t have a shot on your goal, and you score two, could’ve been five really, but that’s everything.”
Leave a Reply