Wrexham were able to dominate the opening exchanges at the STōK Racecourse as they got the better of Gerhard Struber’s Bristol CityWrexham and Phil Parkinson got the better of Bristol City on Wednesday evening(Image: Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Phil Parkinson has shed some light on Wrexham’s preparation after their win over Bristol City at the STōK Racecourse, with the Red Dragons’ boss revealing his side focused on their pressing structures in order to win possession high up the field.

The Robins slipped out of the Championship play-off places with a 2-0 defeat in North Wales on Wednesday evening. A first-half strike from Nathan Broadhead and a Radek Vitek own-goal 16 minutes from full-time proved to be enough to ensure all three points would be staying with Wrexham.

Broadhead curled the Red Dragons into the lead with a little over a quarter of an hour played. Having received possession on the left side of the Reds’ penalty area, the 27-year-old checked onto his right foot before whipping an effort past Vitek and into the right side of the goal.

OPINION

OPINION

After a slow start, City seemed to find more of a footing in the game after the opener, with Anis Mehmeti firing over the bar in search of a leveller and Ross McCrorie seeing a goal disallowed. However, the result was put beyond doubt late on when George Thomason’s corner bounced off the post and Vitek before finding the back of the net.

Unsurprisingly, Parkinson was delighted with most of what he had seen from his side, particularly in the opening exchanges where Wrexham were able to put the Reds under plenty of pressure.

“Obviously pleased,” the Wrexham boss replied when asked for his reflections on the game. “I thought the first 35 minutes were really good, [then] they came into it, which you’d expect.

Sign up for our City newsletter

Bristol City looking to build on last season’s play-off finish under Gerhard Struber and you won’t miss a beat with our free newsletter.

All the latest news, views, interviews, gossip and analysis concerning the Robins, delivered straight to your inbox.

It’s completely free and you can sign up HERE

“They’re a good side, and second half, they had moments, but we had some great chances ourselves where we could have really taken the game away from them. But all in all, I thought we built from the weekend, and we spoke to the lads after the Ipswich game and said, ‘Look, really good structure, a really good work ethic and team togetherness, but can we now get back to that quality in possession ourselves?’

“I thought we did that tonight, where the work remained without the ball, but we showed real quality and class when we had it. We got rewarded with a brilliant goal in the first half from Nathan.”

After a good result and impressive performance against Swansea City last time out, the City supporters who made the trip to North Wales would have been forgiven for feeling confident about Struber’s side’s chances of claiming at least a point on Wednesday evening.

But barring a reasonable spell on either side of the interval, the Robins never really managed to hit their stride in the game. Too often, the Reds gave up possession easily, and their usually impressive speed in transition was only visible on a handful of occasions.

Bristol City Live on Whatsapp

Join Bristol City Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol City stories sent straight to your phone

Bristol City Live is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.

Through the app, we’ll send the Bristol City news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.

To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select ‘Join Community’.

No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live team.

We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.

To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose ‘Exit group’.

If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.

Click here to join our WhatsApp community.

At times, it felt like City were inviting pressure onto themselves, particularly early on, when they seemingly struggled to get out of their defensive third all too often. While their performance, in possession at least, improved after the break, Wrexham had set up in a manner intended to stifle Struber’s side’s talent in transition.

“We knew that Bristol would look to play out and we went through the pressing structures yesterday,” Parkinson explained. “When we got it right, we got the ball back high up the pitch. If you don’t get it right against teams at this level, they’re good enough to play through you.

“A couple of times in the second half, we didn’t quite get the set-up right, and they then ended up getting into some dangerous positions. Both sides of the game have got to be in place to win at this level, and I thought they were tonight.”

READ MORE: Gerhard Struber frustrated by ‘cheap’ Wrexham loss as Bristol City boss shares refereeing ‘wish’READ MORE: Wrexham 2-0 Bristol City recap: Reds slip to loss after Broadhead strike and Vitek own-goal