Wrexham can rely on their trio of goalkeepers – but Arthur Okonkwo's return will be welcomed

22 December 2024Last Update :
Wrexham can rely on their trio of goalkeepers – but Arthur Okonkwo's return will be welcomed

Win as a team, lose as a team. That’s always been the mantra for Phil Parkinson’s sides — so perhaps it’s only right that any blame for the two points dropped by Wrexham on Saturday should be shared around.

Fingers may well have been pointed at Ryan Barnett for the uncharacteristic mistake that led to hosts Bristol Rovers levelling at 1-1, having trailed for over an hour, as Promise Omochere headed in from close range four minutes from time. But this really was a collective failure to see out the victory that their dominance in testing conditions deserved. Umpteen chances went begging long before Rovers managed to make their first and only on-target effort of the afternoon count.

Barnett, Paul Mullin, Andy Cannon and Lewis Brunt were among those who failed to even test goalkeeper Josh Griffiths when well placed, and James McClean also struck a post during a one-sided first half. “We dominated the game but big moments cost us,” said Parkinson, and it was difficult to disagree.

But what also shouldn’t be lost amid squandering the chance to move level with League One leaders Wycombe Wanderers on 44 points, after their 0-0 draw against Bolton Wanderers on Friday night, is just how impressive Wrexham had been as a defensive unit until Barnett’s late hesitation gifted Rovers a way back.

Watching how Parkinson’s side nullified the hosts amid the driving rain and howling wind, it was easy to see why they have both the best defensive record in English football’s third tier (14 goals conceded in 21 games, two fewer than next-best Birmingham City) and the division’s highest number of clean sheets (12, two more than anyone else).

Wrexham’s record is made all the more impressive by having to cope with losing two goalkeepers to long-term injuries in Arthur Okonkwo and Callum Burton, with the latter ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn thigh muscle.

Mark Howard, 38, stepped into the breach, seeing his first league action for the club since just before Christmas last year. He has done so seamlessly, with Parkinson again praising the veteran after yesterday’s draw. “Mark was brilliant,” he said. “His kicking in difficult conditions was great, as was his all-round calmness.”

This composure between the posts was again shared by those in front of Howard who, until that late costly slip, had provided a protective ring of steel around their goalkeeper. It’s been that way all season.

That said, when called upon, Wrexham’s trio of senior goalkeepers have all invariably delivered.

Okonkwo’s two saves to deny Leyton Orient’s Brandon Cooper and Jeriel Dorsett of Reading at point-blank range stand out. The way he kept out efforts from both Aaron Collins and Dion Charles away to Bolton in August to earn an important point at the home of likely promotion rivals was another highlight.

Then there was his battle with Tyler Roberts in October’s 4-1 thrashing of Northampton Town, as the former Leeds United man and 20-cap Wales international tried time after time to beat Okonkwo with no success.

All these and more can be seen below in a map of the 57 shots the now 23-year-old former Arsenal academy youngster faced in the league before that untimely broken wrist against Mansfield Town on November 9. He has been particularly impressive when dealing with good-quality low shots, though strangely with a relative lack of efforts sent to his extreme left.

Burton, too, has had his moments, despite starting just four league games.

But for the 28-year-old’s efforts at Stockport County a week after Okonkwo’s injury, Wrexham could have suffered a defeat on a similar level to last season’s 5-0 thrashing rather there than losing by just one goal. Against Exeter City the following weekend, he also kept out Paudie O’Connor’s flicked header with a fine save. He was even able to claw a goal-bound effort from Josh Magennis to safety despite being impeded by the visitors’ Jack McMillan, an offence missed by the officials.

As for Howard, the one-handed save to deny Barnsley’s Fabio Jalo in the 1-0 win on December 3 was as good as anything produced by any Wrexham goalkeeper this season.

Nevertheless, there’s no hiding the timely boost provided by this week’s news that Okonkwo could return in the new year due to his wrist healing nicely.

With eight clean sheets from 14 starts, he’s behind only Murphy Cooper (Stevenage, 10 in 17 starts) Joe Whitworth (Exeter, nine in 20) and Sam Tickle (Wigan Athletic, also nine in 20) in League One. But for his injury, Okonkwo would likely be top of the pile.

That much is clear from a study of the metrics for every goalkeeper with a minimum of 900 minutes of action to their name in League One this season. This can be seen in the table below, which was compiled before this weekend’s round of matches.

Comparing the expected goals on target (xGOT) — effectively the quality of on-target attempts faced, factoring in shot-angle and placement — Okonwko’s ‘goals prevented’ figure was 4.2. That points to someone with strong shot-stopping skills and is the second-highest in the division, behind Rovers’ Griffiths at 5.2.

One area the ‘goals prevented’ metric doesn’t account for is the different number of shots a goalkeeper faces.

To address this, we look at the ‘goals-prevented rate’, as this adjusts for the volume of shots to reveal the degree to which a ’keeper concedes at a rate above or below expectation.

Again, though working without this weekend’s data, Okonwko excels with this metric, revealing how he had been expected to concede 1.5 goals for every goal actually scored past him. Across the course of a season, this can add up to a substantial number of goals prevented — hence the focus will now be on honing the Londoner’s handling skills, after previously being restricted to foot movement and ball striking.

“We’re pleased,” adds Parkinson. “We expected to get the thumbs up on Wednesday (for a return), but you never know. It’s been a strange season, not the sort I can remember happening before, with Arthur, Callum and Luke (McNicholas, out on loan at Rochdale in the fifth-tier National League) all getting injured.

“All the goalkeepers who have stepped in have done well. You have to put Brad (Foster) in that equation, too. He’d hardly been with us when we threw him in against Crewe (in the EFL Trophy earlier this month, having been without a club since the summer). He handled it really well (in a 1-0 win).

“In general, the structure of the team, the hard work-ethic and the organisation have been good. We need to keep working on that, as that’s what has made us tight and hard to score against.”

(Top photo: Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images)