Every Wrexham AFC brief The Playbook has printed, newest first — 5 editions so far. Plus the 1 Ledger call this paper put in print on them, graded. The Archive runs two days behind the paper.
Kieffer Moore has scored five Championship goals this season — three more than anyone else at the club — and that dependency becomes the central question when Wrexham travel to Ewood Park on Saturday. The 4-1 home win over Preston North End five days ago was a reminder of what this side can be when Moore and the midfield connect: Benjamin Whiteman assisted Moore's fourth goal of the match day after setting up Sam Smith, and Joe Worrall weighed in with a goal and an assist from centre-back, the kind of output that flatters a team's depth. On balance, The Playbook expects Blackburn Rovers to take this one — they sit a point and four places above Wrexham in the table with a game played level, and Wrexham have yet to replicate that Preston performance on the road this season. Per The Leader (Wrexham), Whiteman has since called for greater possession dominance, acknowledging the side is not yet consistent enough. Liberato Cacace's stop-start injury run, reported by The Leader (Wrexham), narrows the selection options on the left. Blackburn's shape, and whether Moore can hurt a defence not at Preston's level of difficulty, will determine whether that five-goal gap at the top of Wrexham's scoring charts closes or becomes the story of a promotion bid stalled before it starts.
Wrexham's back line has carried a creative load that most defences never have to — Joe Worrall with a goal and an assist against Preston North End, Danny Imray adding an assist to take him to four across the season in all tracked competitions, and Benjamin Whiteman threading the pass that set up Sam Smith before scoring himself. The 4-1 home win over Preston North End at STōK Cae Ras settled something about how Wrexham want to move the ball, with the defensive third initiating three of the five scoring contributions on Saturday. What it did not settle is whether that shape holds on the road — the 1-1 away draw with Derby County and the 1-2 home loss to West Bromwich Albion either side of this form window both ended with Wrexham conceding, and the 4-1 was against a Preston side sitting at the bottom of the table. Kieffer Moore's five goals across the season dwarf the next Wrexham scorer on two, a concentration that becomes consequential when Wrexham travel to Ewood Park on Saturday to face a Blackburn Rovers side sitting fourth and one point above them, sharper at the back — 16 conceded to Wrexham's 17 — and with nothing to lose by pressing high and inviting Worrall's line to play out.
Wrexham's midfield depth has been the quiet constraint all season — and Tuesday's home fixture against West Bromwich Albion will test it directly. On balance, The Playbook predicts a draw at STōK Cae Ras: West Brom's 14 points from nine games, a return of ten goals scored, and a positive goal difference mark them as a side with more attacking consistency than Wrexham have encountered at home this season.
Oliver Rathbone's return from injury, confirmed per The Leader (Wrexham) Sport as he equalised two minutes from time in the 1-1 away draw with Derby County at Pride Park, matters more than that single result suggests. Rathbone had gone without a goal contribution until that moment across eight appearances in the Championship and Carabao Cup combined, and his role in central areas — receiving, turning, linking — is the mechanism Wrexham need to avoid playing a reactive shape against a West Brom side that has won four of nine. Kieffer Moore leads the club's scoring with three goals and one assist across all tracked competitions this season; whether Rathbone can supply him consistently, rather than in occasional bursts, is the decision the next ninety minutes will settle.
Oliver Rathbone's late equaliser at Pride Park — his first of the season, per The Leader (Wrexham) Sport — rescued a point from a performance that spent most of its 90 minutes looking exactly like a squad still reconnecting with rhythm after three weeks off. The Playbook predicted a narrow Wrexham win on Saturday; it missed, and the draw is an honest reflection of what was on the pitch.
The condition that existed before kick-off — Wrexham's goals coming disproportionately from defenders, with Kieffer Moore carrying the attacking line largely alone — was unchanged by the Derby result. Moore has three goals in nine appearances across the Championship and Carabao Cup this season, and no other forward in the top-scorers list has found the net at all. Danny Imray (one goal, two assists) and Jacques Ekomie (two goals) bring the load-bearing threat from the back line, which means when Wrexham's shape sits deep and waits, the goal threat is funnelled through a role — the lone striker's hold-up — rather than through a connected front third. At Derby, that role didn't produce; a substitute produced the goal instead.
West Bromwich Albion arrive at STōK Cae Ras on Tuesday sitting ninth, with 14 points from nine games — three more points than Wrexham from the same division. On balance, The Playbook expects West Brom to win, though a disciplined Wrexham shape at home has already delivered the 2-1 win over Southampton this season, so a draw is the more likely alternative to a defeat than a comfortable Baggies victory. Whether Moore can hold the line and give Rathbone or Callum O'Hare the space to threaten from deeper positions is the decision Tuesday will settle.
Wrexham arrive at Pride Park with a squad whose goals come from the back line and a forward line still finding its feet. Danny Imray (1G 2A) and Jacques Ekomie (2G 0A) are two defenders sitting among the top five Championship and Carabao Cup contributors, behind Kieffer Moore's three. Derby County are 22nd on 5 points, conceding 1.75 a game to Wrexham's 1.50, and they win fewer tackles than they make. The Playbook expects Wrexham to win at Pride Park, narrowly. The 0-6 away loss to West Ham United showed how badly this side can concede when the shape breaks, yet the 2-1 home win over Southampton at STōK Cae Ras is the template to copy. Derby's 0.88 goals a game means one Moore finish may settle it. Parkinson wants consistency across seven games before the next break, per The Leader, and this is the first of them. That consistency now depends on Moore turning a defender-led goal return into a forward-led one.