There is a difference between being hard to beat and taking the next step. Wrexham are proving the first point, but the second still has not arrived. Their 1-1 draw with Watford at the Racecourse left them without a first win of the new season, and it followed the same pattern as last week’s draw at Cardiff City: enough fight to stay in the game, not enough sharpness to finish it off.
Watford arrived with an unbeaten start under Alessio Dionisi after beating Southampton on the opening day, and they made Wrexham work from the start. Luca Kjerrumgaard put the visitors ahead inside 12 minutes, but Wrexham answered quickly. On 23 minutes, Danny Imray levelled the match, giving the home side the sort of response Phil Parkinson wanted to see after a slow start.
Parkinson later told Sport Wales that Wrexham “responded brilliantly” after conceding first, adding that the team showed “good character and good calmness” to get back into the match. That assessment fit the flow of the evening. Wrexham did not fold after going behind, and they created enough pressure to suggest the game was there for the taking.
Chances were there, but the finish was not
The numbers that mattered most were the ones tied to missed opportunities. In the 37th minute, Danny Imray was close to a second goal when his scuffed shot hit the post. After the interval, George Thomason struck the crossbar. Those moments mattered because they showed Wrexham could get into threatening positions, but they also underlined the problem that has followed them through the opening weeks: the final touch is still lacking.
That is why the result feels bigger than a single point. Wrexham have now gone through a league draw at Cardiff City, another against Watford, and a loss to Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup without finding a win. The broader story is not panic, because the performances have shown resilience. The broader story is that resilience alone does not move a season forward.
There was also a reminder that Watford’s night was not straightforward either. During the match, they introduced 20-year-old Albert Eames after a head injury to Omar Traore, which briefly changed the rhythm of the contest. Even so, Watford held firm enough to leave North Wales with a point.
Now the fixture list asks another question of Wrexham. On Friday, they are due to visit Birmingham City, and that makes the search for a first league win even more immediate. Wrexham do not look far away from turning a draw into a breakthrough, but the longer they leave it, the more each near miss starts to feel expensive.
