Wrexham’s Phil Parkinson Criticizes Referee After Late Cardiff Equalizer

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson expressed his frustration over the amount of added time in Monday’s match, which saw Cardiff City equalize with a last-minute free kick from Rubin Colwill, resulting in a 1-1 draw in the Championship. Parkinson argued that the match should have seen no more than four minutes of added time, given that Wrexham held a lead from an early goal by Kieffer Moore.

Referee Andrew Kitchen allocated six minutes of stoppage time, and after a foul by George Dobson on Joel Colwill at the edge of the penalty area, two additional minutes passed before Rubin Colwill’s powerful free kick soared into the net past Wrexham goalkeeper Anthony Patterson. “I don’t know where the referee got six minutes from, to be honest,” said Parkinson. “I thought it was more like four. I don’t think there was an injury in the second half, and I thought it was job done.” He lamented the missed chances and added, “We had enough chances to have killed the game off. We should have been out of sight really.”

Former Cardiff striker Kieffer Moore scored the opener in just the third minute, marking his seventh goal against his former club. He also came close to scoring again, hitting the crossbar with a header, while Callum Doyle’s shot found the post later in the match. Despite these efforts, Wrexham failed to extend their lead further, with Cardiff goalkeeper Nathan Trott making crucial saves against attempts from Doyle, Danny Imray, and Sam Smith.

Parkinson reflected on the performance, noting, “Some of our attacking play was of a very high standard and in many respects I’m pleased, but obviously when you concede late it hurts. We knew they were going to commit players forward, but equally, on the transition, we had some great chances.”

On the other side, Cardiff’s manager Brian Barry-Murphy celebrated Colwill’s equalizer with a dash along the touchline, resulting in a yellow card for departing his technical area. Barry-Murphy acknowledged the decision to bring in Colwill, who had only trained for two days before the match: “Rubin’s only trained for two days really, so probably shouldn’t have put him on as early as I did, but the way the game was going, I felt as if we needed a bit of something different.”

The performance marked a disappointing start for Wrexham in their second season in the Championship, especially following an early exit from the Carabao Cup against Middlesbrough on August 7. Parkinson recognized the challenging environment they faced after consecutive promotions in the last three seasons, stating, “It was an electric atmosphere, but we handled it with calmness and an assuredness of a team which came into the game believing we could win the game.”

Special Credits: Image Courtesy of Espn