Phil Parkinson delighted by Wrexham’s ability to win when not at best

Phil Parkinson hailed his Wrexham side’s mentality to find goals at the end of games and drew parallels with Sir Alex Ferguson’s great Manchester United teams after a dramatic late 2-1 win over Wigan.

Ryan Barnett put the hosts ahead on the hour only for Latics substitute Joe Hugill to equalise, but Steven Fletcher’s superb stoppage-time finish ensured victory as the Dragons moved back into League One’s top two.

And Parkinson was pleased his side found a way to win while not at their best as he lauded Wrexham’s belief in getting a goal.

He said: “Were we at our best? Probably not, we weren’t. They pressed us and hurried us out of possession at times and our structure without the ball, the detail of it wasn’t quite where it needed it be at times.

“But in terms of sticking to the job and showing character and strength and personality, I thought all that was high. It’s difficult to keep producing performances.

“It’s sometimes difficult and you look at the other results around the country – Birmingham at home, Huddersfield at home – have failed to go back-to-back wins at home so it’s an amazing win for us against a good team. But the mentality of the group is so strong and it showed again.

“I was watching the Sir Alex documentary yesterday and Manchester United go right to the wire and we’ve got that mentality here. We go to the end and we always believe we can get a goal and Fletch has produced a real quality strike for us to win the game.”

Disappointed Wigan boss Shaun Maloney could not fault his players and felt the Latics outplayed their hosts but with no rewards.

He said: “I can’t say anything negative about the team. I think there’ll be moments in both boxes that you could probably pick out but I couldn’t ask any more from them, with and without the ball.

“They are just really dangerous at the long ball, every time the centre back or goalkeeper has it, you know that their nines are going to cause a big threat with the long balls. I thought we were really good.

“I could stand here and read chances again that we should maybe take but honestly the players were brilliant. I can’t ask any more of them. It’s a tough one because you never want to accept getting beat but if ever there’s a way you do, you do it like that.

“If we’d have drawn 1-1 I’d have been disappointed. I feel really disappointed for the players and the supporters. We came here and we know the level of investment in this team and in my opinion outplayed them.”

MORE: Watch: Steven Fletcher scores stoppage-time winner as Wrexham topple Wigan