Wrexham took a big leap forward in the race for the Championship play-offs with an away victory at Oxford United last night.

Josh Windass’ strike from the edge of the box won the game for the Welsh side, who leapfrogged Hull City into the final play-off spot.

Their Yorkshire rivals for the final place drew 2-2 with relegated Leicester City last night, with Wrexham going level on 70 points each, separated by just two goals on goal difference.

Phil Parkinson’s side have managed to put the back-to-back defeats to Southampton and Birmingham City that threatened to derail their promotion charge behind them, beating Stoke at home on Saturday and now Oxford last night.

It is some turnaround from prior to that Stoke victory, where Wrexham found themselves four points behind Hull with four games to go in the league season.

“We never stopped believing, but the key to us in the last two games is that we’ve relaxed a bit,” Parkinson said.

“We just regrouped. I felt against Birmingham we were almost too desperate to go and win it, so we just tried to take a step back and had a week to reflect on what we need to and got our performance levels back to where they need to be.”

With Wrexham hitting form at the right time, Parkinson is keen not to let his side get ahead of themselves in the race for a play-off place.

“We’re in a far better position than when I woke up Saturday morning,” he added.

“Did we believe (Hull) would drop points going to Leicester? We knew Leicester needed to win so we felt they would have a right go, but it was all about what we did and we performed really well.

“We spoke to the lads prior to the Stoke game about pushing all the way; we got a brilliant win and we have backed it up with a really hard-fought victory.

“To hit 70 points in our first season in the Championship is a good achievement – but it’s not the achievement we want to be remembered for.

“It’s a good benchmark for us, now can we add to that in the final two games?”

Wrexham’s final two games do not come much harder than champions Coventry away and Middlesbrough at home. However, with the former already secure of their position, and the latter winless in their last six games, perhaps the Wrexham promotion charge is just beginning.

Zan the man strikes again for the Swans

Championship top scorer Zan Vipotnik’s late winner for Swansea in their 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers saw them climb into the league’s top 10.

Ronald scored his first Swansea goal in 41 appearances to give the away side the halftime lead, before Vipotnik converted a contentious penalty for his 22nd league goal of the season from the spot 10 minutes from time.

Wales international Rhys Norrington-Davies scored in the 90th minute to provide a nervy end to the match, but Vitor Matos’ visitors held on for a second win in three games.

“We started really well, dictating with the tempo we wanted with the ball and with the pressing as well. It was quite good to see,” Matos said.

“Queens Park Rangers are a good team with good organisation who use the width of the pitch really well, so there was a lot of effort from us, really nice to see, and it was a well-deserved win.”

On the Vipotnik penalty, the Swansea boss admitted that Eom Jisung was fouled outside of the area.

“It was outside the box, not a penalty,” he added.

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