Wrexham intent on taking play-off race to the wire

Phil Parkinson says Wrexham's aim is to take the Championship play-off race "to the wire" after they closed the gap to the top six with victory over Stoke City.

Quickfire goals from George Thomason and Josh Windass shortly after the half hour mark earned the Red Dragons all three points against the Potters at Stok Cae Ras.

It ensured Parkinson's men reduced the gap to Hull City, who are currently sixth, to just two points after the Tigers were held to a 1-1 draw by Birmingham City.

"The aim has been to take this to the wire," Parkinson said.

"That's what we spoke to the lads about, let's not hand the play-off place to the other teams.

"It's about making sure we got our performance levels where they need to be to win games of football at this level.

"I felt you saw today, a lot of players came back to the levels they can play at and we'll be ready for Tuesday night to do the same."

Wrexham went into the contest with Mark Robins' side having lost successive league games for only the second time this season.

But they controlled proceedings throughout and claimed a first clean sheet in six matches while also ensuring Stoke failed to register a single shot on target.

Victory clinched the club's highest-ever league finish, but, crucially, it dragged Wrexham firmly back into the play-off picture.

Tomoki Iwata struck a late equaliser for Birmingham at Hull, and Parkinson says he was grateful to the Blues for the role they played in helping Wrexham cut the gap to the Tigers.

"I honestly didn't know what the score was until I was coming off down the tunnel and someone said the game was still going but it was 1-1," he said.

"So of course that is a bonus and we're not going to deny that.

"Birmingham, they're a good side as we saw last week, they're probably disappointed they're not in the (play-off) mix.

"But they've done us a favour and now we go to Oxford and let's just see if we can keep this going right to the end."

The Red Dragons return to action against Oxford United at Kassam Stadium on Tuesday night (19:45 BST) before rounding off the regular season with fixtures against Coventry City and Middlesbrough.