Phil Parkinson heaps praise on Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo

Phil Parkinson praised goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo after his inspired performance earned Wrexham a point from a 0-0 draw at Portsmouth.

Okonkwo made seven saves as Pompey belied their reputation as the Championship’s lowest goalscorers to rain shots on the Wrexham goal.

The former Arsenal youngster’s full-stretch dive to keep out Josh Murphy’s stinging strike and reaction save on the line to deny Ibane Bowat were the pick of a strong bunch.

Parkinson said: “Arthur was brilliant. I’m so pleased for the big fella.

“He’s getting better and better each week. He’s been on this journey with us and is adapting all the time and that was a really good performance from him tonight.

“He can be very pleased with his clean sheet.”

Despite Okonkwo’s heroics, the Red Dragons should have won the match on the hour when Lewis O’Brien fired straight at Josef Bursik when clean through.

Parkinson added: “It’s a great chance and one of the few moments in the second half where we linked the game and cut them open. It was a great moment for us.

“If he looks back he probably didn’t need a touch and could have bent it in first time.

“Those moments, you need them to go in to win games.

“It was a hard-earned point for us tonight. Fratton Park on a Wednesday night is always a test.

“We showed some good quality and played through the press but in the second half we couldn’t get a foothold in the game. Credit to them, they put us under pressure.”

Wrexham are unbeaten in their last four matches and sit comfortably in mid-table after just one defeat in their last nine matches.

On the flip side, Pompey have won just once in their last nine and have only scored 10 goals in the league this season.

Head coach John Mousinho was happy with the response following the 4-0 defeat to Birmingham, and said: “We created more than enough in the second half to win the game.

“We gave ourselves a foothold but we couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. That was the big thing that was missing tonight.

“I thought there were some brilliant saves in there – the one which he made down to his right from Josh Murphy and from Ibane’s header.

“On another night you think you have to bury those chances. It was a combination of their goalkeeper being on form and not testing him quite enough.

“If we had created that many chances away from home, one would have been in the back of the net and we would have lost the game. I hope the lads take confidence from that and know that if we perform like that at home, more often than not we will win games.”