Wrexham have been dumped out of the FA Cup in the first round after losing 1-0 at the hands of Harrogate Town on Sunday afternoon.
Phil Parkinson will have been hoping for another decent FA Cup run this season after previously landing memorable wins over Coventry City and Shrewsbury Town.
Those wins came in the third round but Wrexham will not reach that stage this time around after defeat against Harrogate Town.
Jack Muldoon’s first-half goal proved to be the winner, sending Wrexham home with a narrow 1-0 defeat.
Wrexham’s approach was criticised by pundit Kevin Ratcliffe as whilst there was lots of possession and plenty of shots, Wrexham had no cutting edge.
Phil Parkinson on Wrexham’s Modou Faal
Wrexham did have the ball in the net late on as Parkinson saw his side push for an equaliser.
Substitute Modou Faal headed the ball home from close range but was ruled offside, cutting Wrexham’s celebrations short.
Faal was brought on as an aerial presence inside the box and he so nearly had the desired impact.
This just wasn’t Wrexham’s day and that narrow offside call summed it all up.
Parkinson spoke about Faal after the final whistle though and suggested that he offered Wrexham the movement needed inside the box.
Paul Mullin’s wasteful display frustrated Wrexham fans and Faal looked to have stepped up as the goalscoring hero before seeing his hopes dashed.
Parkinson has told Wrexham’s official YouTube channel that he didn’t actually think that Faal was offside anyway, believing a defender could have played him onside.
Parkinson added that Faal gave Wrexham exactly what was needed with some smart movement, and believes Faal would have inspired a total turnaround if his goal had counted.
“I think the Mo goal is a tough one to take because, if it is offside, it’s absolutely marginal,” said Parkinson.
“I think the linesman probably hasn’t seen the defender the other side of Mo, who looks – to us – like he could have been playing him on.
“It was great movement from Mo and that’s what we needed – somebody to go in there and get us that goal back and I think, if we’d got one back, we’d have gone on and won the game,” he added.
Modou Faal may land big Wrexham chance soon
Faal may have been a touch frustrated to see Jon Dadi Bodvarsson come off the bench ahead of him at Harrogate.
Bodvarsson hadn’t kicked a ball this season having opened the campaign as a free agent, but he was still thrown on before Faal.
Both strikers will need to step up though with Jack Marriott out injured for four months and Steven Fletcher picking up a knee problem.
Ollie Palmer and the aforementioned Mullin will be Wrexham’s first-choice pairing but Palmer isn’t exactly prolific and Mullin is still seeking his best form.
That means that Faal and Bodvarsson will be called upon at some point soon, whether it’s for considerable minutes off the bench or in the starting lineup.
Faal is a project for Wrexham but he is a huge presence who can cause some havoc in the box; Wrexham went with that idea against Harrogate and it came so close to working, it just wasn’t to be this time around.
Leave a Reply