Phil Parkinson says Wrexham overcame ‘illness in the camp’ to beat Portsmouth

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson revealed his side had been hit by a sickness bug in the lead-up to their hard-fought 2-1 win over Portsmouth.

The Red Dragons continued their push for a fourth successive promotion as they held on for a victory at Stok Cae Ras that tightened their grip on the top six in the Sky Bet Championship.

Sam Smith, who opened the scoring with a fine header, was among the players to have been struggling and was unable to complete the game.

Parkinson said: “The energy levels weren’t quite where we needed to be. We’ve had a bit of illness in the camp over the last few days but we just dug deep as a team.

“When you’re not quite at your best, and you’re not functioning quite how we like, you have to show another side to your game and I felt we did that.

“Sam was really good in that first half. He was one of the lads who had a stomach bug and he was struggling at half-time.

“I said ‘Come on, Sam, another 15 minutes’. He’s been brilliant for us, ever since he’s been here.

“That’s a real old-fashioned striker’s header, a great finish.”

Max Cleworth doubled Wrexham’s lead from a corner before Pompey rallied in the second period.

Zak Swanson pulled a goal back with a deflected strike but, despite applying considerable pressure, the visitors could not find an equaliser.

Parkinson added: “I thought we were excellent first half. We really bossed the game.

“Second half we didn’t quite get the control we wanted but sometimes football is about finding a way to win and we’ve done that really well.

“We dug deep and it’s a great win.”

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho felt his side were unfortunate not to get something from the game.

He said: “The old cliché – a game of two halves. I thought we completely dominated the second half but gave ourselves too much of a mountain to climb.

“We were really disappointed with the first goal and the second goal was obviously a set-piece that stemmed from a foul, and the less we talk about that the better.

“I thought there some really poor officiating for the whole night.

“If it had been 1-0 at half-time the outcome would probably have been different.”