Wrexham’s ‘immaculate’ summer signing from Arsenal earns them a hard fought point

Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo pulled off a man-of-the-match performance to see their match against Bolton end 0-0 at the Toughsheet Community Stadium

As the minutes ticked away Okonkwo denied Bolton striker Dion Charles a potential second-half winner.

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson, in charge against of his old club for the first time in five years, hailed his team’s first away point of the new season as “hard fought.”

“It was a good test and I was interested to see how we fared,” said the ex-Bolton manager.

“They started so quickly and we didn’t quite react to that. But we grew into the game. We showed at times we have got quality. We had moments, and so did they.

“It was important for us as well to show we can compete at this level, at the top end of the division. I felt we did that.

“At times in the second period we gained some control with the ball and looked like we could go on and win it.

“But we had to rely on Arthur for one particular outstanding save.”

On the ex-Arsenal keeper, Parkinson added: “I said to the owners in the summer Arthur was a key signing.

“He is someone who can grow with the club. He’s not just a good keeper, he is a good character as well. Everyone saw his quality. He was immaculate.”

Evatt’s annoyance

Trotters boss Ian Evatt felt Bolton deserved more from their goalless draw with League One rivals Wrexham in front of the club’s biggest post Premier League crowd of 25,957.

The frustrated Trotters boss also believed his team were denied a “stonewall” stoppage-time penalty for a shirt pull on skipper Ricardo Santos.

“I thought we deserved to win it,” Evatt said.

“We were the team probing and asking questions for large spells. We should have and probably could have gone ahead and we had enough chances to win it.

“For a team like them that ask you lots of questions and score a lot of goals they didn’t create a great deal. They really celebrated the draw so that shows where we are at.

“So, some frustration but also a lot of positives because if that’s the yardstick for us this season I do think we have another gear to find.”

Referee Ben Speedie waved aside spot-kick claims for Eoghan O’Connell’s foul on Santos.

“The referee said it was mutual holding and the holding didn’t carry on for long enough,” said Evatt.

“The stadium could see Rico’s shirt was over his head. I have had the benefit of watching it back. Rico didn’t hold their player’s shirt once.”