‘The Hardest Thing’—Phil Parkinson Reveals What Cost Wrexham in Cardiff Draw

The Red Dragons were held to a 1–1 draw on the opening night of the Championship season.

Wrexham wasted several good opportunities to score vs. Cardiff. | Dan Istitene/Getty Images

Phil Parkinson rued the many missed opportunities from his Wrexham side as they drew 1–1 with Cardiff City in their first match of the new Championship season.

The Red Dragons gave a good account of themselves in the Welsh capital but paid the price for their profligacy in front of goal when Rubin Colwill scored a stunning free kick with the last kick of the match. Wrexham took an early lead through Kieffer Moore and had further chances to kill the game in both halves.

Callum Doyle drilled an effort against the post and Sam Smith lobbed the ball just wide of the goal, in two of the best chances for Wrexham to finish the game. Those chances came back to haunt them when George Dobson conceded a needless foul on the edge of the box in the dying seconds and gave Colwill the platform to score an excellent equalizer.

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Parkinson Blames Lack of Cutting Edge

Wrexham felt they should have done better with the chances that fell their way vs. Cardiff. | Nick Potts/PA Images/Getty Images

Speaking after the 1–1 draw, Wrexham manager Parkinson blamed the lack of cutting edge shown by his side against Cardiff, though he insisted it wasn’t down to a lack of quality in his squad.

“It wasn’t for a lack of being dynamic in our play,” he told reporters at full time. “I think you could see that we attacked with numbers, we got in some brilliant positions, but the hardest thing in football is putting the ball in the back of the net.

“But time and time again, the keeper made comfortable saves, or we just missed the target. It was very fine margins; we hit the post, but from my memory, the first 10 minutes of the second half we had four really good chances.”

When asked if the lack of firepower needed to be addressed in the final days of the summer transfer window, Parkinson admitted every manager was on the lookout for more goals, but insisted there are enough players at the club to address the problem.

He added: “I think the players we have got in the building have got it. They really have. We’ve got some terrific finishers, but for the amount of play we had and the amount of positions we got in, of course ... I think everybody knows it’s defining moments, isn’t it, in football?

“A lot of the approach play is really good, and I was very, very pleased with how we handled the environment tonight. I thought we were very cool and collected, and understood what we needed to do as a team both with and without the ball.

“We’ve got [Josh] Windass coming back into the team, hopefully won’t be too long. He is obviously a player who has got moments of sheer quality in him. Like any manager, always looking for that bit extra, but I feel we’ve got a lot in the building to take those moments.”

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