Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson hailed the influence of veteran centre-forward Steven Fletcher after his goal, moments after coming off the bench, earned a 1-0 win at promotion rivals Huddersfield.

The 37-year-old Scot finished off a penalty box scramble to ensure Wrexham remain just two points behind second-placed Wycombe in Sky Bet League One.

Parkinson said: “When the games are coming thick and fast, as they are, the bench is really important and Fletch can put the fear into them.

“It was a scramble off a great cross and you wonder if it’s going to go into the back of the net but it does.

“Fletch is such a great team player – not just on the pitch but in the dressing room and around the place with the younger players – and on top of that he scores goals.

“We’re in the time of year where it’s tough to get wins and we had to go right to the wire with our concentration levels and our organisation without the ball.

“I felt we took 15-20 minutes to get up to the speed of the game. When you come to a place like this where the crowd’s up for it, you need to be ready.

“There were patches of the first half where we had our moments, but it wasn’t really where we want it to be – but maybe that’s nitpicking. I thought the focus was really there second half.”

Meanwhile, Huddersfield boss Michael Duff was left to wonder what might have been after his side failed to score for a sixth successive home game.

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Duff’s team dominated much of the contest and he said: “I thought we were the better team.

“I thought there was a foul in the build-up to the goal and then it’s offside, Fletcher’s standing on the line.

“But we had chances throughout the game and we had to score the first goal. Dion Charles has got in one-on-one and you can almost see his brain ticking as he goes through, and he’s busted it high and wide over the bar. But he’s our player and we’re going to support him.

“We started the game really well, we were moving the ball really well, we were opening them up. The performance was enough to win the game but there’s frustration with the injuries at the moment.

“We had to keep making substitutions that were enforced and again we end up with a makeshift back four. We’re having to make changes at the minute and it’s frustrating.

“The players are giving everything for us and as a group we’ve just got to keep working, keep believing and go from there.”

Wrexham made the decisive breakthrough after Sam Smith saw a close-range header saved but scrambled the loose ball towards goal, where Fletcher was waiting to tap home from what appeared to be an offside close-range position – shortly after he replaced Jay Rodriguez.

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