Why Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney may have to spend more in January as Wrexham look for transfer business to counter growing problem

The Red Dragons were always going to scour the market for potential new recruits at the start of another calendar year. With the club flying high in League Two, additions at this stage could make the difference between automatic promotion and a place in the fourth-tier play-offs.

Manager Phil Parkinson is, however, seeing an unfortunate run of injuries and suspensions disrupt his plans. Anthony Forde, Tom O’Connor, Steven Fletcher and Andy Cannon were among those to miss out on a 1-0 defeat to Newport, with Jordan Davies also absent while Aaron Hayden and Jordan Tunnicliffe are working their way back from knocks of their own.

Parkinson has said when asked if Wrexham may have to step up efforts to get fresh faces on board, with Reynolds and McElhenney providing the funds that will help to get transfers over the line: “We are looking anyway but we will just have to assess the injured players. We have got nine days before the next game and we just need to look at everybody and see how long the injuries are going to be. Fletch will have a scan on Monday, Fordey is also going to see a specialist about his problem and we know where we stand with Tom. You are looking at a few weeks with Tom rather than months, so that's three. Andy had slight concussion and hopefully we will see a slight improvement in him this week. Of course it's disruption but we have got good players to come in and I felt if we'd kept 11 on the pitch against Newport, we would have had a great chance of winning the game. It wasn't to be but sometimes things go against you so much that the mountain is too big to climb and it was today with those circumstances.”

Wrexham saw Will Boyle dismissed in their disappointing defeat at Welsh rivals Newport – their fifth red card of the season – and will hope to have some senior stars back in contention by the time they face Championship side Blackburn in the FA Cup fourth round on January 29.