Can Phil Parkinson's side maintain the momentum?

After Saturday's comprehensive victory over Aldershot Town, Wrexham push on with another home match as they look to close the gap to league leaders Stockport County. The Hatters are currently nine points ahead of Phil Parkinson's Red Dragons, but this match is a game in hand. Victory would certainly make the gap more manageable, especially as Stockport are yet to visit The Racecourse. If Wrexham can maintain the pressure that match, our final home game of the season, could be rather interesting!

Visitors Kings Lynn suffered a chastening 4-1 home defeat at the hands of Maidenhead United last Saturday. That loss drew a scathing response from the Eastern Daily Press, which described it as “the last nail in the coffin” of the Linnets’ relegation scrap.

Ironically, Kings Lynn had shown some promising signs leading into the game, and a goalless draw at Barnet in midweek was, in the words of manager Tommy Widdrington, “as good a structure as I have seen from us as a team since I have been at the club.”

“I hope the confidence gained from the all-round performance on Tuesday night, both in possession and out of possession for a lot of the game, we can carry that on in the future.”

Lynn certainly started well against Maidenhead, with ex-Red Dragon Gold Omotayo scoring his second goal of the season to put them ahead early on. However, things went horribly wrong from that point. Maidenhead pulled level by the break and struck three times in the second period, the 4-1 victory a fair reflection of the balance of play.

The defeat was Widdrington’s 11^th game in charge, and there is no doubt that he has overseen an improvement in Kings Lynn. Prior to Saturday’s disappointment they had conceded just one goal in their previous four games, picking up 5 points. He has drafted experience in with the loan signing of Josh Coulson, whose experience has been crucial at the back, and hasn’t been scared to shake things up, leaving previous mainstays Aaron Jones, Michael Clunan and Tyler Denton out of many of his line-ups.

Despite the improvement, their situation is pretty dire. They lie second from bottom, 15 points short of safety with the first of 2 games in hand being this match. Only Dover have scored fewer goals in the division; just Dover and Barnet have conceded more. They have won twice away from home – at Maidenhead and Yeovil – must the most recent of those wins came in early October and it was followed up by a draw against Barnet and then a horrible run of 14 losses in 15 games which, understandably, has been impossible to recover from.

HEAD TO HEAD

Kings Lynn have only visited The Racecourse once before, and it was a high-scoring affair. In fact, it was the highest-scoring match Wrexham had been involved in since Gateshead inflicted a 7-2 defeat on us in February 2011, our heaviest ever loss at The Racecourse.

The Linnets’ first match in North Wales was the final home match of last season. We still had our fate in our own hands then, as victory in our two remaining matches would guarantee a place in the play-offs. Kings Lynn, however, were about to put up stiff opposition despite their lowly position in the table.

Luke Young got us off to a great start, scoring a 17^th minute penalty after Jordan Davies forced a handball, but the visitors struck back swiftly, as Sonny Carey drove home a superb free kick 4 minutes later.

Carey would be outstanding in the first half as Kings Lynn took the game to Wrexham, but it appeared the match had slipped away from them when two goals at the end of the half changed the game. First Davies drove home a typically magnificent free kick, and then Gold Omotayo added a third.

Remarkably, Kings Lynn refused to give up. Substitute Simeon Jackson pulled one back, and although Jordan Ponticelli’s header from a fine Cameron Green cross restored the 2-goal lead, Jackson struck a second goal ten minutes after his first to make the score 4-3.

Wrexham held nervously onto the lead until the 83^rd minute when Omotayo grabbed his second goal of the match – a strike which no doubt helped to inspire Kings Lynn to sign him last Summer!

The victory completed the double over The Linnets, as Wrexham had won 2-0 at The Walks in January 2021 thanks to early goals from Jamie Reckord and Adi Yussuf. Yussuf left the pitch in the 61st minute and woudn't be seen in a Wrexham shirt again, as three days later he moved to Chesterfield.

POTENTIAL MILESTONES

Dan Jarvis' 50th career appearance.