Phil Parkinson hails ‘great night’ for Wrexham after draw at Leicester

Phil Parkinson hailed Wrexham’s 1-1 draw at Championship promotion hopefuls Leicester as evidence of how far his side have come.

Substitute Nathan Broadhead’s equaliser in the 77th minute extended the visitors’ unbeaten run to four games in all competitions.

Lewis O’Brien got the better of Jannik Vestergaard on the right flank and crossed for forward Broadhead, a club-record signing from Ipswich in August, to fire home.

It was another milestone for the Welsh club, who clinched three successive promotions to return to the second tier.

“It was a great night for us,” Parkinson said. “I’m immensely proud of the performance. We have come to a club that nine years ago were winning the Premiership title and we were languishing mid-table in the National League.

“To be on the same stage as them and to play as well as we did is a great tribute to a lot of people at the club.

“The execution of the game plan was very good, with and without the ball. We doubled up on their wide players and with the ball as well we looked dangerous.

“It’s another strong performance from us at this level.”

It was Broadhead’s second Wrexham goal after opening his account in a Carabao Cup win over Reading.

“It was a great finish from Broady,” Parkinson added. “He is just a dangerous player.

“When the ball hits him in and around the box people are on the edge of their seats. You really feel something is going to happen and that’s a great feeling for us to have.”

Leicester dominated the first 45 minutes and led deservedly through Jordan James’ first goal since arriving on loan from Rennes.

The Wales midfielder played a swift one-two with Patson Daka before striding through to find the net in the 36th minute.

Foxes manager Marti Cifuentes was annoyed his players did not maintain that standard in the second period, however, accusing them of arrogance.

“I’m very disappointed because I have the feeling that we threw away two points,” he said. “To keep this level of absolute dominance we need to score three or four goals.

“My honest assessment is that we were a bit arrogant. We thought we had the game completely in control, but in football something can happen and the game can change.

“We didn’t understand what was needed in the second half. I don’t know if arrogant is too harsh, but there was a little bit of thinking that the game was so under control that even at 1-0 we are going to win this.

“My thoughts are try to make it 3-0 because that’s what the fans deserve. That fact that we felt in control is fake control because winning 4-0 – that’s control. We got punished in a deserved way.”