‘I’ve said all along’ – Wrexham boss doesn’t agree with EFL rule that inflicted promotion blow

Phil Parkinson has vented his frustrations with EFL substitution rules after his Wrexham side were dealt a promotion blow.

The Welsh outfit were beaten 2-0 by fellow play-off hopefuls Millwall on Saturday, a result that has opened a six-point gap between them.

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Matty James suffered an injury before half-time and needed to be taken off on 35 minutes, with George Dobson his replacement.

Six minutes into the second half, Liberato Cacace also made way with a knock, and it was George Thomason who came on in his place.

It meant Wrexham had used two of their three allocated substitution windows despite having a third of the match left to play.

EFL rules state that Championship clubs can use five substitutes from the maximum of nine they can name on the bench.

Aside from concussion substitutions, they have three opportunities to make their five available changes throughout the match.

However, Wrexham boss Parkinson disagrees with the regulations as they impacted his ability to make tactical tweaks in search of a goal.

He brought on Davis Keillor-Dunn, Sam Smith and Josh Windass in the 72nd minute to make the most of his substitutions

“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.

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“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.”

Speaking via ESPN, Parkinson also gave an update on the injuries to James and Cacace.

“Matty went in for a challenge, and he felt he’d broken his toe, so we brought him off,” he said.

“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.”

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Wrexham promotion push takes hit

Wrexham would have overtaken Millwall and risen into fifth with all three points at the Racecourse Ground.

However, they are now at risk of falling outside of the play-off spots.

Just three points separate them and Queens Park Rangers, who are currently 12th in the table.

Preston North End, Bristol City, Derby County, Birmingham City, and Watford can all overtake Wrexham for the coveted sixth spot.

They are also 11 points adrift of the automatic promotion spots, so as it stands, the play-offs are their best bet for going up.

Wrexham are next in action on Friday night for their FA Cup fourth round clash against fellow Championship side Ipswich Town.