Wrexham star may be fearing for his future role as Phil Parkinson’s Thomas O’Connor claim backed up by stats
Thomas O’Connor returned to the starting lineup when Wrexham traveled to Barnsley in midweek.
Phil Parkinson has recently preferred a centre-back trio of Max Cleworth, Eoghan O’Connell and Lewis Brunt.
Said players have helped Wrexham keep one of the best defensive records in League One this season, which has been crucial to their rise up the table.
However, with Brunt injured, the Wrexham manager opted to hand Thomas O’Connor a rare start alongside Cleworth and O’Connell.
The Red Dragons went on to lose 2-1 at the hands of Barnsley, dropping down to third in the division once again.
However, there were still some positive displays on the night, with Steven Fletcher impressing versus Barnsley from the bench.
Phil Parkinson shares verdict on Thomas O’Connor after Barnsley
Elsewhere, Parkinson has since shared his verdict on how he thought O’Connor played on January 1st.
The 25-year-old began the campaign as one of Wrexham’s main central defenders but lost his place following the rise of Brunt.
He had played just 11 minutes of football in the club’s previous six League One ties but completed the full 90 minutes against Barnsley.
After the defeat, as per Leader Live, Parkinson gave a brief but positive verdict on O’Connor.
He said: “It was a shame for Brunty but I thought Tom O’Connor was brilliant.”
The Wrexham coaches’ view on O’Connor is very much justified when looking at his stats from the game via Sofascore.
Dan Scarr must be worried about Wrexham role now
As mentioned above, Brunt picked up a calf injury to rule him out of the Barnsley clash.
It was somewhat surprising to see O’Connor come in as his replacement with summer addition Dan Scarr on the bench.
Scarr is a quality option with experience at a higher level but for whatever reason, he has fallen greatly down the pecking order of late.
The centre-back has now been left on the bench for Wrexham’s last nine league matches.
And given Parkinson was pleased with how O’Connor performed on Wednesday, it now looks as though the 30-year-old has been relegated to fifth-choice centre-back.
Scarr has been ‘frustrated’ by his Wrexham minutes since arriving from Plymouth Argyle and is unlikely to be too happy at being left out once more despite Brunt’s injury.
