On an afternoon when George Evans was joined in Wrexham by the personal trainer who helps get his body in peak shape to play the physically demanding role of Deadpool, perhaps it was fitting the actor’s football club should benefit from their very own stunt double.
George Evans’ dismissal for a reckless lunge on Colchester United’s Cameron McGeehan during Wrexham’s 2-1 win meant the promotion-chasing Welsh club had to play with 10 men for more than an hour.
More pertinently, in terms of keeping pace with leaders Stockport County as Dave Challinor’s side ran riot to beat Sutton United 8-0, it meant having to try and eke out three precious points without the holding midfielder who had done so much to transform a side once so defensively vulnerable they conceded a dozen goals in their first three home games back in the EFL.
That Wrexham managed to do just that on an afternoon when the visitors dominated possession (65 per cent) and had more shots on goal (18 to 11) owed much to Andy Cannon, the midfielder who in the early months of the season had been confined to a bit-part role amid the team’s struggles to get up to speed with League Two.
Against a lively and enterprising Colchester side who belied their third-bottom standing in the table, the 27-year-old moved seamlessly into the deep-lying role that Evans had vacated via the first red card of his career.
Cannon was calmness personified, even when the opposition was snapping at his heels. He also displayed energy levels that must have even caught the eye of watching Don Saladino, the physical trainer who has worked with Reynolds for the past 15 years.
Then there was the ability to find space amid a scrum of three or four yellow shirts that meant his team-mates always had an ‘out’ ball, be that fellow midfielders Elliot Lee and James Jones or the back five.
Cannon was also quick to react to danger, something Evans had brought to the midfield following his arrival from Millwall on the final day of the summer transfer window.
Never was this more apparent than just after a half-time break in which Parkinson had rallied his troops with the instruction to play more on the front foot despite being a man down.
“We don’t want to play survival football,” he told the dressing room before reminding them that Colchester had already beaten Notts County 5-4 this season. “If you give them space, they have the ability to produce moments. We have to get up to the ball and block things around the box.”
