Wrexham end Championship leaders Middlesbrough’s long unbeaten run

Ian Parker, Press Association

Championship leaders Middlesbrough suffered only their second league defeat of the season as Wrexham eased the pressure on Phil Parkinson with a much-needed 2-0 win.

George Thomason rifled Wrexham in front in the 71st minute and substitute Oli Rathbone sealed it with an 84th-minute header to give Wrexham only their fourth win of the season, coming after back-to-back defeats against Blackburn and Sheffield United left the Red Dragons hovering just above the drop zone.

Boro arrived in Wales unbeaten in 11 league games, but with top scorer Will Lankshear out through injury they looked a far cry from the side who had scored 13 goals in their previous four matches.

Lankshear’s return of 15 goals this season was as many as the entire Wrexham squad prior to kick-off, and his absence through injury told on the league leaders as they struggled to make much of an impression before the break.

Kyle Joseph’s ambitious bicycle kick dribbled wide before Adilson Malanda failed to get enough power on a header from Sebastian Berhalter’s free-kick – the first effort on target from either side 29 minutes in.

Callum Brittain then cut in from the right and beat two defenders, but having done the hard work he mis-hit a weak shot straight at Anthony Patterson.

Parkinson had said his Wrexham players needed to have an “honest self-assessment” after Friday’s 1-0 loss to Sheffield United and responded with four changes, bringing in Thomason and Max Cleworth following injury, along with George Dobson and Ben Whiteman.

The response was clear. Although Wrexham took time to grow into the game, they ended the first half looking the more dangerous side.

Right after Brittain’s chance for Boro, the lively Thomason dragged a low ball across goal but Lewis O’Brien could not stretch far enough to turn it in.

Cleworth then went close with a first-time strike from range which had Radek Vitek scrambling to push clear.

Wrexham thought they had scored less than 40 seconds into the second half, but O’Brien was narrowly offside when he tucked in the rebound after Vitek spilled a low strike from Kieffer Moore.

Parkinson’s side looked full of energy as they harassed Boro into mistakes, prompting a triple change by Kim Hellberg, though it did little to help them.

Boro were gifted a chance in the 66th minute as Patterson’s terrible clearance went straight to Amario Cozier-Duberry but he sliced a shot wide.

Five minutes later the league leaders trailed. Cleworth launched a long ball into the box and Malanda’s clearance fell for Thomason to lash home from the edge of the box.

Jeremy Sarmiento then fired into the side-netting for Boro but this was not their night, and moments later Rathbone, who had replaced Thomason seven minutes earlier, settled it as he nodded in O’Brien’s chipped cross at the back post.