A stirring second-half display wasn’t enough to prevent Wrexham starting the new year with a 2-1 defeat at a rain-sodden Barnsley . The Athletic picks out the main talking points from an afternoon that leaves the Welsh club third in League One and two points off the automatic promotion spots. Worrying recent trend continues Before the second-half onslaught that left manager Phil Parkinson declaring he was “not downbeat in any stretch of the imagination” despite starting the new year with a defeat, there was a repeat of a worrying defensive trait that has started to creep into Wrexham’s game.
Namely, a vulnerability down the right side that led directly to four of the last five goals conceded by Parkinson’s side in 2024. Advertisement And now, on the first day of 2025, the visitors were opened up down the same flank in devastating fashion for both of Barnsley’s first-half goals. Firstly, Davis Keillor-Dunn drifted into a wide position after a Wrexham attack had broken down at the other end and a raking pass from Adam Phillips duly found the forward.
With Max Cleworth too slow to close him down, Keillor-Dunn looked up before curling an exquisite shot beyond the blameless Mark Howard . Barnsley’s second goal came via a similar route, Max Watters this time getting the better of Eoghan O’Connell on halfway and out near the touchline in front of the main stand at Oakwell. Cleworth then blocked Watters’ path to goal, only for the Barnsley man to show great presence.
