Phil Parkinson admits that Wrexham could have avoided the 3-1 Watford defeat had a first-half 50-50 call gone their way.
The past 48 hours have been horrible for Wrexham. The Reds fell down 3-1 to an inconsistent Watford side on the road and later saw Southampton claim a narrow 1-0 Norwich City win to gain top 6 advantage.
Before this matchday, Wrexham fans knew that the April home clash against the Saints will have a lot of say on the team’s playoff dreams. Earlier, a draw vs Southampton could have sufficed for Wrexham if they hadn’t lost at Watford.
Now, nothing less than beating Southampton at the Racecourse will be enough for Phil Parkinson’s men provided the Saints remain winning in their upcoming games. As such, every fan will be thinking what if the Watford defeat might not have happened in midweek.
Maybe the players will also be lamenting the 3-1 defeat. Phil Parkinson shares the same feelings which doesn’t come as a surprise in the first place. But on top of that, his verdict clearly says Wrexham might have defeated Watford 2 days ago.
READ MORE: Phil Parkinson names 1 injury that held Wrexham back (it’s not a midfielder)
READ MORE: Sheffield United set to miss 23yo star vs Wrexham (got 2 assists in 5-3 game)
READ MORE: ‘Monitoring’ – Wrexham keeping tabs on former Chelsea and England star
Or atleast the Reds would have avoided a 3-1 defeat comfortably if not for a 50-50 call that went Watford’s way.
Phil Parkinson talks 50-50 call from Wrexham’s 3-1 defeat
In the build up to Saturday’s huge Sheffield United clash, Phil Parkinson pointed to a Wrexham vs Watford moment where the referee ended up favouring the hosts. That action came in the first half when Wrexham were searching for the 1-1 equaliser.
With ten minutes to go into half-time, Wrexham looked close to scoring when Ollie Rathbone was brought down in the Watford box. Subsequent calls for a penalty were also ignored by the on-field referees. Clearly, that decision didn’t go down well with Parkinson and the Wrexham dugout.
In his own words, the Leader Live quoted Parkinson reflecting on that 50-50 call saying: “The first goal and Ollie (Rathbone’s) just about to pull the trigger on the edge of the box. If there’s contact, it’s minimal but something completely made him miss the ball. On another day it could have been a penalty and next thing the ball’s in the back of the net.”
Wrexham vs Watford could have ended in 2-2 draw
Nothing can be changed about Wrexham’s 3-1 result at Watford. But what if Ollie Rathbone was awarded the spot-kick? Well, there are high chances Wrexham would have gone on to level things up at 1-1.
READ MORE: Phil Parkinson names 1 injury that held Wrexham back (it’s not a midfielder)
READ MORE: Sheffield United set to miss 23yo star vs Wrexham (got 2 assists in 5-3 game)
READ MORE: ‘Monitoring’ – Wrexham keeping tabs on former Chelsea and England star
Knowing that Wrexham have constantly played without multiple key players for weeks, taking a 1-1 draw at the break would have served as a motivation to do better than this. Plus, Max Cleworth rose high to head an Ollie Rathbone corner delivery in the back of the Watford net just after the restart.
That would have been Wrexham 2-1 Watford. The Reds fanbase knows Phil Parkinson’s men don’t waste these kind of leads nowadays. Hence, a 2-1 win or even a 2-2 draw would have been on the cards if Watford scored late, which they did.
As for the Championship table, Wrexham will be sitting on 61 points with a 2-2 Watford draw which would be one more than Southampton’s 60. Unfortunately, that is not the case and the Reds have no other choice than to make amends for an awful Watford result by taking Sheffield United down at Bramall Lane.
And perhaps, just hope that Wrexham don’t end up on the harsh side of a referee call on the weekend.
READ MORE WREXHAM NEWS HERE:
- Phil Parkinson names 1 injury that held Wrexham back (it’s not a midfielder)
- Sheffield United set to miss 23yo star vs Wrexham (got 2 assists in 5-3 game)
- ‘Monitoring’ – Wrexham keeping tabs on former Chelsea and England star
- ‘Never watch’ – Wrexham fans fuming at one player after 3-1 Watford defeat
- Sky Sports mistakes Wrexham for Premier League club after Watford defeat
