Town boss Kieran McKenna says it’s important his team start their run of seven games in 22 days positively when Wrexham visit Portman Road for the first time in their history on Saturday.

The teams have never met in league action previously with the only game between the clubs an FA Cup tie in January 1995 which the Red Dragons won 2-1 at the Racecourse Ground.

Town ended the block of games prior to the October international break by beating Norwich City 3-1 but McKenna was then frustrated that they lost 2-1 at Middlesbrough on their return and also 3-0 at home to Charlton a few days later.

He says he wants his team, who are seventh in the table, two points outside the play-offs and six from the top two with a game in hand on everyone above them, to replicate the performance and energy from the 4-1 win at Swansea City 4-1 in the final match prior to this latest hiatus for international football.

“Absolutely, we spoke about that this week,” he said. “In terms of the Norwich game and the incredible experience we had there and then an international break which you didn’t really want, we didn’t manage to match those levels in our group cohesion at Middlesbrough.

“It is a challenge, there are no two ways about it. It’s positive that we finish the blocks well, but it is a challenge in terms of trying to recapture that energy on the pitch that we finished the game at Swansea with in front of your fans, scoring goals, in the dressing room.

“To try and recapture that when players have been to difference places with different motivations and different things across the fortnight, that’s a challenge. But that’s football and that’s what we have to rise to.

“We’ve worked really hard with the boys who have been here. Thursday was the first day we had all the boys together, so we worked really hard to try and bring the group back together and close again.

“You can never guarantee a result in a football match and especially in the Championship against a tough team and with good players. But how you go about the game, how you fight for the points, what we give to the performance and your teammates, we have to guarantee that tomorrow. If we do all that, we will give ourselves a chance of all three points.”

Wrexham are 13th in the table on 21 points following their promotion from League One last season having finished second, their third elevation in three years under the ownership of Hollywood pair Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

The Red Dragons’ form this season has been inconsistent but they are unbeaten in their last five in the Championship, winning three home games, including a 1-0 success against Charlton before the international break and a 3-2 victory over leaders Coventry in which former Blues striker Kieffer Moore scored a hat-trick, and drawing two away. They’ve lost only one in their last 10 in the league.

Overall, their record on the road is won two, drawn three and lost two with their wins at Millwall, 2-0, in August and at Norwich, 3-2, in September.

Despite not winning away since then, they have drawn three of their last four on their travels, most recently at Portsmouth, 0-0, and Middlesbrough, 1-1.

Only three sides have conceded fewer away goals than the Welshmen’s seven - the same as Town - but the eight they have scored is fewer than all but eight other teams.

“They are a strong team,” McKenna said when asked about Saturday’s opponents. “Of course, there is the journey that they have been on, which is quite remarkable.

“You look at their team and it is full of Championship, or above, quality players. They have invested and recruited really well as they have gone up each level.

“Certainly this year, they have built up a really strong Championship squad that can compete with anyone in the division.

“They have shown that with their games, especially in games against some of those at the top, the supposed 'big clubs' in the division.

“We know we are in for a really tough game against experienced players. They have competed in pretty much every game this year and we expect the same on Saturday.

“We know we are going to have to fight for everything and it’s going to be tough, but we believe in ourselves and we are going to give everything we can to get off to a good start.”

Veteran Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson is the only manager in the Championship to have been in his job longer than McKenna having been handed his current role in July 2021, the Northern Irishman taking over at Portman Road five months later.

“He has done an outstanding job, no doubt about it,” McKenna said. “They have invested and brought in new players as they have stepped up each level, but you have to bring them together as a team and then deal with the changes in the level and the differences in each league. He has done an excellent job, they are competing again this year, so full credit to him.”

The Team

McKenna will look to utilise his squad over the course of the seven games in 22 days and the four over the next 11 days.

Christian Walton will continue in goal with Alex Palmer still around a fortnight away from returning from his calf injury.

Darnell Furlong seems likely to continue at right-back, Dara O’Shea and Jacob Greaves as the centre-halves and Leif Davis the left-back, having signed a new contract which runs to the summer of 2029.

In central midfield, Azor Matusiwa will again probably be partnered by Jack Taylor with McKenna having his usual dilemmas in the three ahead of them.

Jaden Philogene, who has scored all six of his goals at home this season, could return on the left with Kasey McAteer on the right, the Irish international not having been away on international duty during the break unlike Sindre Walle Egeli, who started twice and scored twice for Norway’s U21s, and Chuba Akpom as the number 10. George Hirst seems likely to continue as the number nine.

As is usually the case, the attacking players who don’t start will be involved from the bench and will probably then start at Hull on Tuesday.

The Opposition

Wrexham boss Parkinson knows Portman Road well from his time at Colchester United between 2003 and 2006.

“I managed Colchester so I’ve been down that area a lot and Portman Road is a special ground to go to,” he told theWrexham Leader.

“It’s got a real feeling of history attached to it. I remember Bobby Robson’s team many years ago won the FA Cup.

“Portman Road has got a special atmosphere and I’m really looking forward to taking the boys down there.

“They carry a lot of the Premier League players they had last year so it’s another really good test for us.

“We’ve gone to some big clubs and put in strong performances this season and I’m looking for the lads to do that again.”

Parkinson says former Town striker Moore, who suffered a hamstring problem in the Charlton game before the international break having started every match for the Red Dragons so far this season, and New Zealand international wing-back Libby Cacace, who has a calf issue, will be assessed ahead of the match.

“Libby and Kieffer pulled out [of their international squads] and both were obviously disappointed to miss the international games,” he continued.

“Particularly Kieffer because they were qualifiers for Wales, but he’s seen the Welsh physio over this period as well and unfortunately there was nothing we could do about it, but he’s coming along well.

“He’s had a really good first third of the season for us and the positives of that are that he’s now had a break.

“How soon can we get him back fit? But he’ll come back refreshed and ready to go again. We will continue to assess him, and the same with Libby.

“Libby got a whack on the calf. There’s a lot of bleeding in there and we will just keep monitoring him.”

History

Town and Wrexham have met only once before, in the FA Cup third round at the Racecourse Ground in January 1995 when the then-Second Division (third tier) side beat the Blues, who were in the Premier League, 2-1 in George Burley’s third game as manager.

Kieron Durkan gave the home side a deserved lead on the hour, but Blues skipper David Linighan nodded an equaliser from a corner on 84 as Town thought they’d escaped an embarrassing cup shock.

But, two minutes later, one-time Town defender and future academy director Tony Humes sent in a free-kick from deep and Adam Tanner, making only his second senior appearance having scored in the 4-1 home victory over Leicester the previous week, brought down Karl Connolly in the area. Clive Baker came close to saving Gary Bennett’s penalty but the ball crossed the line off the inside of the post.

The Blues almost grabbed a second equaliser injury time but Wrexham keeper Andy Marriott pushed Adrian Paz’s header onto the bar from virtually point-blank.

Familiar Faces

Wrexham signed Nathan Broadhead from the Blues for an initial £7.5 million in August, the Wales international returning to the club where had been a schoolboy before joining Everton aged 10.

The 27-year-old made 56 starts and 28 sub appearances for the Blues, scoring 23 goals, and was a key member of the back-to-back promotion-winning squad having signed from the Toffees for £1.5 million plus add-ons in January 2023.

Also making a move to the Red Dragons this summer was striker Moore. The 33-year-old initially joined Town from Forest Green Rovers for £25,000 in January 2017 but made only 11 sub appearances without scoring before moving on to Barnsley a year later following a hugely successful loan spell with Rotherham in the first half of that campaign in which he scored 13 times.

Moore returned to the Blues on loan in January 2024 from AFC Bournemouth, by which time he had become an established Wales international, and bagged seven goals in 14 starts and four sub appearances as he helped Town to promotion to the Championship.

Officials

Saturday’s referee is Dean Whitestone, his assistants Hristo Karaivanov and Andrew Dallison, and the fourth Official Tom Reeves.

Northamptonshire-based Whitestone, who in addition to refereeing is an officer with the Metropolitan Police, has shown 31 yellow cards and one red in 10 games so far this season.

Whitestone’s most recent Town match was as a 55th-minute replacement for the injured James Bell in the Blues’ 2-1 victory at Coventry City in April 2024 which took McKenna’s side to within a point of promotion back to the Premier League.

During his time on the field, Whitestone booked Town skipper Sam Morsy and one home player.

Prior to that, Morsy again fell foul of Whitestone in the Blues’ December 2023 2-0 win at Middlesbrough, the Egypt international shown a harsh yellow card for what the official saw as kicking the ball away, then was later banned for one match by the FA for “acting in an improper manner and/or using abusive words and/or behaviour towards a match official in or around the changing rooms”, apparently for remonstrating about the caution.

Luke Woolfenden and Dominic Ball were also yellow-carded during the game along with one Teessider.

Whitestone’s last Town match before that was the 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Fulham in September 2020 in which he kept his cards in his pockets throughout.

He also refereed the 1-0 FA Cup third round defeat at Accrington Stanley in January 2019 in which he booked Flynn Downes and no one else.

Whitestone was in charge of the Middlesbrough game at Portman Road in February 2012, which was abandoned after 37 minutes due to a frozen pitch with the score at 0-0.

Earlier that season, he was in in the middle for the 2-2 draw at Cardiff City in which he booked two Bluebirds, Michael Chopra and Keith Andrews.

Whitestone also refereed the 2-0 home defeat to Plymouth Argyle in March 2010 and the 1-1 draw at Reading in November 2009, again issuing no cards on each occasion.

In November 2008 he awarded both sides a penalty as Town drew 1-1 at home to Sheffield United, both goals coming from the spot, booking only David Norris and Alan Quinn.

Squad From

Walton, Button, Gray, Furlong, Johnson, Young, H Clarke, Davis, O’Shea (c), Greaves, Kipre, Matusiwa, Cajuste, Taylor, Nunez, Humphreys, J Clarke, Walle Egeli, Philogene, McAteer, Akpom, Hirst, Azon.

Photo: TWTD