When the story is written of how Wrexham gradually forced their way into the Championship promotion race this season after 43 years away from the second tier of English football, Queens Park Rangers will surely feature prominently.
A little over four months on from manager Phil Parkinson being forced into a major rethink after watching his side, playing for only the fifth time in the division one below the Premier League following three promotions in a row, get picked apart by the second-tier stalwarts in a 3-1 home defeat, Saturday’s dramatic 3-2 win in the reverse fixture underlined just how far the Welsh club have come.
The stoppage-time goals from Josh Windass and Ollie Rathbone that turned a 2-1 deficit into a thrilling victory and took Wrexham into the play-off places may have been harsh on QPR. But what the comeback in west London did was continue the wider pattern that has seen 40 points collected from 24 games since that September 13 loss to a club now playing their 11th consecutive season of Championship football.
Such a haul fully justifies the changes wrought by Parkinson in direct response to watching Rangers’ talented front four of Richard Kone, Harvey Vale, Koki Saito and Rumarn Burrell running riot that afternoon. Namely, the switch to a box midfield formation the following weekend away to Norwich City, a game that also saw Issa Kabore, Ben Sheaf and Dominic Hyam promoted from the bench to make their full debuts (in a 3-2 Wrexham win).
Saturday’s rematch, featuring all three of those deadline-day signings in the Wrexham starting XI, won’t cause anything like that autumn rethink, even allowing for the fact it took 54 minutes for the visitors to muster their first shot of the game.
Parkinson put this sluggish start down to his players initially failing to adapt to what he considers to be “probably the worst pitch in the division”, despite being warned about the Loftus Road conditions beforehand.
Still, the manager has plenty to ponder with the winter transfer window now into its final week and up to three additions being chased by Wrexham, who remain in talks with French top-flight club Angers over 19-year-old striker Sidiki Cherif.
Sidiki Cherif in action for Angers against Saint-Etienne last season (Marcio Machado/Getty Images)
Patience was always likely to be needed in January. Parkinson said as much to The Athletic late last month. After bringing in 13 new faces over the summer following promotion from League One, the initial focus this month was on getting the likes of Jay Rodriguez, Andy Cannon, Danny Ward, Elliot Lee and Lewis Brunt back up to speed after injuries.
Only then, Parkinson made clear, could decisions be made on possible ins and outs.
That moment has apparently arrived, with James McClean already having returned to hometown club Derry City, Cannon joining Burton Albion on loan for the rest of the season and Lee continuing to edge closer to his own temporary move away before the window closes on Monday, February 2, at 7pm (2pm ET).
Others badly in need of football include Paul Mullin, following his early return from what was intended to be a season-long loan to Wigan Athletic of League One, teenager Harry Ashfield and Conor Coady, with the former England international having not played a minute of league action since being ditched amid those changes following the loss to QPR. On Saturday, the 32-year-old failed to even make the nine-strong substitutes’ bench for the third Championship match in a row.
No matter how exemplary the professional — and Parkinson was quick to praise Coady after the 1-1 draw with Leicester in September for his insight on former City team-mates — this must grate.
Amid the planning for arrivals, one eye has been kept firmly on player numbers.
The 25-man squad demanded under EFL rules meant several big names had to be culled following the summer window, and Parkinson is keen to keep things streamlined going into the season’s final few months.
As Saturday proved when Windass and Rathbone came off the bench to spark that dramatic comeback, there’s plenty of strength in depth already. George Dobson also made a positive impact after being brought on during the second half, along with Sam Smith, while Max Cleworth had to be content with being an unused substitute despite having started more league games (27) this season than anyone else at the club.
Smith’s efforts when deputising for injured Wales international Kieffer Moore in the lone striker role over the holiday period — he scored three times in four league and cup starts — further underlined the wealth of options at Parkinson’s disposal.
Despite this, Wrexham remain in the market for a striker.
Cherif, who has four goals in 19 appearances in what is his first season as a regular in Ligue 1, has been the subject of talks with Angers, while Parkinson flew out to watch the teenager at Paris FC on Sunday night. He was substituted on the hour in a 0-0 draw. Angers rate the teenager in the region of £19million ($26m), a figure which would set a new Championship transfer record.
More pressing is the need to strengthen at wing-back, where the wait goes on for first-choice pairing Kabore and Liberato Cacace to start a game in tandem, having last done so in the November 5 goalless draw at Portsmouth. A need to manage the minutes of two players who have suffered serious hamstring problems since joining the club last summer explains Parkinson’s recent reluctance to unleash them together.
As the results over the past two months show, Wrexham have been able to cope in their absence, with Ryan Longman helping to fill the sizeable hole left by Manchester City loanee Kabore down their right flank.
Wrexham need more wing-back options, to ease the burden on Issa Kabore (Cody Froggatt/Getty Images)
George Thomason has also performed well down the other wing, really catching the eye on Saturday against QPR, where Cacace was rested following his exertions in midweek against Leicester.
After being put under early pressure by Karamoko Dembele and Amadou Mbengue, the summer signing from Bolton Wanderers was a shining light in attack, even at a time when Wrexham were struggling to get going in those testing conditions. Even so, Thomason is primarily a midfielder, and had struggled the previous weekend in the 2-1 home defeat against Norwich.
With McClean having joined Derry in a move that suited all parties and a close eye having to be kept on both Kabore and Cacace, additions are needed at a position that is integral to how Wrexham have played in their four-and-a-half years under Parkinson.
He prefers to operate with five wing-backs on the books, including at least one who is comfortable down both flanks. Longman fits the bill in that respect thanks to his crossing ability with either foot, meaning the focus during the next seven days is on bringing in at least one new face to play down the flank; hopefully, two.
These are heady days for Wrexham.
Not since the club were in second place in the old Second Division (today’s Championship) 10 games into the 1979-80 season have they occupied as lofty a league position as today.
Throw in the recent investment deal that saw Apollo Sports Capital purchase a 10 per cent stake — papers registered at Companies House late last week revealed the deal to be worth £47.83million, with the money largely earmarked for the Racecourse Ground’s redevelopment — and Wrexham really do seem ready for lift-off.
A big final week of this window can only fuel those attempts to write another on-field chapter in an already quite remarkable story.