One Wrexham star has been praised heavily by Phil Parkinson after the Crawley Town fixture.
The Red Dragons were in League One action for the second time this weekend on Saturday afternoon.
Wrexham lost 3-1 to Birmingham City on Monday evening, denting their promotion hopes somewhat.
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds watched on from the stands for that clash but were not in attendance on Saturday.
After suffering their first league defeat of the campaign against one of their biggest rivals, Wrexham needed a win to main top spot in the division when they welcomed Crawley Town to the Racecourse Ground in a 3pm kick-off.
Parkinson made a controversial call ahead of the clash when Jack Marriott was dropped for Paul Mullin.
But it proved to be the right decision as Wrexham beat Crawley Town 2-1. Several players shone over the course of 90 minutes with one man in particular praised heavily by Parkinson.
Phil Parkinson details how Max Cleworth is improving for Wrexham
The game got off to a positive start when Max Cleworth fired a loose ball into the Crawley box for Elliott Lee to score the opening goal in the 24th minute.
Wrexham were pegged back nine minutes into the second half via an Armando Junior Quitirna effort.
But just when it looked as though the Welsh outfit would be forced to settle for a point, Cleworth scored the match-winning goal with 12 minutes to play.
After scoring and assisting on Saturday, Parkinson has now detailed in his post-match interview how the ‘terrific’ Cleworth has improved by adding more to the attacking side of his game.
He said: “Our supporters have seen that he has grown as a player.
“He’s adding goals and assists to his game and he should get goals because he’s a terrific header of the ball, but he has got a fantastic leap. His timing is good and yeah it was a big moment for us today.”
Phil Parkinson urged to make change to Wrexham defence
Cleworth has been a revelation for Wrexham so far this season, forming a great connection with Eoghan O’Connell and Thomas O’Connor at the heart of the club’s backline.
However, while the newly promoted side are continuing to pick up positive results and are top of League One, Parkinson has been urged to drop O’Connell, with one journalist believing he is suffering from ‘burnout’.
Making changes to a side on a good run is always risky, but the decision to drop Marriott after he had scored four in six worked out for Parkinson, and he could now consider a change at the back.
Dan Scarr and Lewis Brunt arrived at the Racecourse during the 2024 summer transfer window but are still yet to start a league fixture.
However, both players, especially Scarr, have the quality to dominate in the third tier and with O’Connell struggling somewhat, Cleworth may have a new defensive partner sooner rather than later.
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