'I don't agree with that!' - Phil Parkinson fumes at controversial rule as Wrexham lose ground in race for Premier League promotion

Defeat at the hands of south London side Millwall was a bitter pill to swallow for Wrexham, who remain in sixth place on goal difference after losing out to the side directly above them in fifth at the Racecourse. The Lions have now opened up a six-point gap over their hosts on Saturday, with Wrexham dragged back in towards the pack of sides below them.

Red Dragons boss Parkinson spoke of his frustration at full-time after he was forced to make three of his five substitutions at once in the second period, which he felt may have disrupted his side’s chances to get back into the game more gradually at 1-0 down. 

Matty James was replaced with an injury before half-time and Liberato Cacace was dealt the same fate just six minutes after the break, and Parkinson claimed that including enforced changes due to injuries within a side’s permitted three substitution windows is an unfair rule which he has disagreed with “all along”.

"I don't agree with that rule," he told talkSPORT post-match.

"I've said all along that if there's a genuine injury in the first half, you shouldn't then be restricted for your entries. There's lots of things I disagree with about the rules, but that's one of them.

"It kind of, rather than doing it in stages, we kind of went bang and did it with 72 minutes. In saying that, we then became a bit open, but we still had the best moments to have got back in the game. But it was always going to be tight, and in football, it's about taking moments when they come."

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Parkinson also provided an update on the injuries sustained by James and Cacace during the home defeat.

"Matty went in for a challenge, and he felt he'd broken his toe, so we brought him off," he told reporters. "It doesn't look too good, but we can just hope that it's not as bad as we fear.

"Libby, I haven't spoken to our medical team yet about that, but he felt a pain behind his knee, and obviously that disruption is never ideal.”

Parkinson added on the final result: "We've deserved something from the game, but it's about moments. It was always going to be a tight game, two teams in the top six. There was nothing really in it, although in the first half I thought we had the better of the play.

"The goal we conceded has come from absolutely nothing. We've had two great chances and should have had a penalty when Thommo [George Thomason] has had a shot and I can't see how the referee hasn't given that.

"Then out of absolutely nothing we end up 2-0 down and the score line is not a fair reflection on the game."

Wrexham will hope to return to winning ways when they host fellow Championship side Ipswich Town in the FA Cup fourth round next Friday night. Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac’s side defeated Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest in round three and will be confident of their chances of reaching the fifth round for the first time since their run to the quarter-finals back in 1996-97.

A crunch Championship clash with fellow play-off hopefuls Bristol City follows that, before another encounter with Ipswich in the league and subsequent matches against Portsmouth, Charlton and Watford. With an eleven-point gap to make up on the top two, a top-six place appears to be Wrexham's best shot at a first-ever promotion to the Premier League.