February headlines were consumed by rugby news on and off the field, so a lot of the football news may have slipped through the cracks. All in all, it was a positive period for the clubs – although Swansea fans may beg to differ.

Swansea City

Captain, Matt Grimes has stepped up a gear in recent weeks and is beginning to have a greater influence on those around him. Morgan Whittaker has also impressed since returning from his loan spell with League one side Plymouth Argyle, where he scored 9 goals in 25 appearances.

Manager, Russel Martin has not been shy about expressing his disappointment with the financial situation at the club, maligning the mismanagement of the January transfer window.

He was quite transparent when addressing the Ryan Manning issue, saying:

“I love Ryan, he loves it here, but we’ve allowed the contract to go to the last year,” admitting, “I don’t think there’s any point in keeping talking about that. He’s not going to sign a contract here.”

Four defeats from five in February – including two at home – have left The Swans in 15th place in the Championship, eight points adrift of the playoffs. Reaching the knockouts is far from out of the question as Swansea could make up a lot of ground in March. All four games are against sides above them in the table, including home fixtures versus Middlesbrough and Bristol City.

Cardiff City

Former France international, Sabri Lamouchi became Cardiff’s seventh manager in the past eight years, taking over from Mark Hudson at the end of January. Hudson had only taken over in September but was relieved of his position after just 18 games.

Lamouchi’s reign began with a 1-0 defeat away to Luton – Cardiff’s third one-nil loss in a row – before going down 3-1 at home to Middlesbrough. But The Bluebirds finally got their first win of 2023 when they beat Birmingham 2-0 at St Andrew’s.

They backed it up three days later, beating Reading, this time in front of their home fans, thanks to an injury-time strike from Romaine Sawyers.

The win came with a major casualty, however – an injury to top-scorer, Callum Robinson. Lamouchi confirmed Robinson, who has contributed six assists on top of his seven goals, will be out for a month, missing five games at a vital period of the season.

The Norwich defeat at the end of the month leaves Cardiff in 21^st place in the Championship, very much looking over their shoulder. The visit to Rotherham just before the international window could well be a relegation six-pointer.

Newport County

February was a magnificent month for Newport, picking up three wins and two draws from their six fixtures and climbing to 18th in League 2 in the process. The side have shown a new resolve, picking up two wins and a draw with goals scored in the last five minutes of games.

Calum Kavanagh has been an important figure since joining on loan from Middlesbrough, even scoring the winning goal on his debut for the club. A goal that secured all three points at home to Swindon.

But the headline heroes have been veteran defenders, Cameron Norman and Michael Demetriou. Cameron scored in the win over Swindon and got the equaliser against Walsall while Demetriou earned the club six points this month – scoring injury-time winners in the victories over Barrow and Hartlepool.

There have been changes in the background as Darren Kelly left his role as Sporting Director, while Jon Pratt was appointed as a co-op director of the Board. Whether there is a connection or not is uncertain, but the results have begun to pick up lately and The Exiles are going in the right direction.

Wrexham

Never out of the news, Wrexham made headlines again in February, stoking up an unlikely rivalry with Championship side, Sheffield United. United captain, Billy Sharp made some unsavoury comments about The Red Dragons, which did not go down well considering the gulf between the clubs. Just another week at The Racecourse, really. Welcome to Wrexham as they say.

Five wins from their last six league games keeps Phil Parkinson’s side in the hunt for the league title. They finish the month two points adrift of Notts County but with as many games in hand.

Star striker, Paul Mullin scored six goals in those six games as he continues to repay his transfer fee game-on-game. He now has over 70 goals since making the move from Cambridge United.

Sam Dalby and Jacob Mendy have been sensational recently as well, with Dalby scoring three in his last five appearances.

Meanwhile, the club’s latest signing, Eoghan O’Connell scored the winner on his debut and has begun to bed-in nicely. His move from Charlton brought the usual questions when it comes to Wrexham, but so far, the players and management have not let outside noise affect their on-field performances.