Explained: Why Phil Parkinson left Paul Mullin on the bench as ten-man Wrexham struggled to see out 'tense' League Two clash with Swindon Town

Mullin has scored seven goals in 15 League Two games this season but he did not come off the bench against Swindon. Instead, James McClean and Sam Dalby played up front, with Steven Fletcher coming off the bench, and McClean's early goal proved decisive. Wrexham were left hanging on after James Jones was sent off for two yellow cards in the second half, but Parkinson resisted the urge to bring Mullin on.

Parkinson explained: "Mulls was ill overnight, he felt a little bit better lunchtime but his energy levels were never going to be high, and Jake went down ill as well. We thought long and hard about it but James' energy up there with Sam, I thought they were excellent. They caused real problems."

Parkinson was pleased with his side's performance but admitted that the sending off was a major setback.

He added: "We had chances to kill the game off and take it away from them. Their goalkeeper pulled off some unbelievable saves and you always know with the goal threat that Swindon have in their side, because they are one of the top scorers in the league, that there is always that chance that they could get a goal back.

"Then with the sending off, it became a little bit more tense than it needed to be. All in all, with the disruption we had prior to kick-off with illness and the kindness of the EFL giving us a Boxing Day fixture over a 150 miles away, I thought we coped with it really well and it is a very important win for us when you take everything into consideration."

Mullin will hope to recover in time for Wrexham's encounter with Walsall on Friday. The Red Dragons are then in action again on New Year's Day, against Barrow.