Broadhead's brilliance and Wrexham's perfect blend

Wrexham ended their wait for a first home Championship win of the season by beating Oxford United 1-0 at the Stok Cae Ras.

Nathan Broadhead struck the only goal of the game in the 14th minute, although it proved far nervier than boss Phil Parkinson would have hoped after Callum Doyle was sent off midway through the second half.

But victory moved the Red Dragons up to 15th in the table and eased concerns over the club's home record as Oxford are left hovering above the relegation zone.

Here are the key talking points to emerge from the contest in north Wales.

Having failed to win any of their opening five home league matches, Parkinson looked to alleviate the pressure on his players before the game by saying their focus would be on the quality of the performance.

And he would have looked on from the dugout with immense satisfaction at the way his side started.

Liberato Cacace charged up the left flank and fired at Oxford goalkeeper Jamie Cumming with just 50 seconds on the clock.

It typified a lightning start from the hosts whose press and physicality caused Gary Rowett's men heaps of problems.

They also conjured up a fine blend between nasty and nice, on and off the ball.

"First half I thought the lads did exactly what we asked them to do in terms of imposing our shape on the opposition, everyone did their role for the team in and out of possession," said Parkinson.

"I thought there was a really good physicality about the team tonight.

"We won the duels all over the pitch, the front two, as much as they had some really good eye-catching moments, were always in the right place to gain possession for us.

"All of the horrible things you've got to do on a football pitch we did well tonight, and on top of that we played some terrific football in the first period."

Oxford failed to carry a threat in the opening half and rarely looked like scoring even after improving following the break.

The visitors ended the match with an XG (expected goals) of just 0.15, such was their lack of creativity in the final third.

Defeat leaves Rowett's side - who have won just twice in the league this season - in 20th, one point and two places above the Championship's bottom three.

But the 51-year-old believes his side can continue to evolve as the season progresses.

"We've definitely improved this season in terms of creating more chances and having a little bit more of the ball," Rowett said.

"But what we haven't done so far is have the points we had last season. We could play poorly last season and dig a game out, we could do what Wrexham did where we'd go 1-0 up and make sure we don't concede.

"At the moment we haven't quite had that balance to the team.

"Today is a good example of where we are, where we have that inconsistency. We need to find that back and I think we certainly will improve as the season goes on."

Having reverted back to a 3-5-1-1 formation, Wrexham looked rock solid defensively and had the platform to press Oxford from the outset.

Wrexham had 29 touches in the Oxford box, almost three times as many as The U's (10) had at the other end.

They also had six shots on target compared to Oxford's two as, even with their numerical advantage, the away side struggled to trouble Arthur Okonkwo.

"We've played well in a 3-4-3, but after Stoke on Saturday, we felt we didn't get enough bodies in and around the box," Parkinson said.

"In all of my time here we've been about threatening the opposition goal and making sure we've got end product in the team.

"We just felt we needed a shift in dynamic tonight to commit more players forward."

The strong defensive display played a vital role in ensuring Wrexham kept just a second clean sheet of the season in the league.

"The clean sheet at home is something we were so used to last year," said Matty James.

"To be able to get that was key. The Championship is a tough league and to get clean sheets you've got to work extremely hard for it, and I thought we did that."

Broadhead was handed just a second league start of the season to occupy the 10 role in between Wrexham's three-man midfield and frontman Kieffer Moore.

He justified the faith shown in him by Parkinson with an impressive 60-minute display before being replaced by Josh Windass.

The former Ipswich Town man notched his third goal of the season for Wrexham to settle the contest, but it was his ability to link up with Wales team-mate Moore and the trio of Matty James, George Dobson and George Thomason behind him that helped keep the Red Dragons on the front foot.

"I thought he was great tonight," Parkinson said of Broadhead.

"We spoke to him about utilising Kieffer's physicality, but picking his moments to link into midfield, he was very clever with that tonight."

After a slow start to the season due to injury, the 27-year-old is starting to show why the club paid a record sum to bring the academy product back to north Wales in the summer.

The Stok Cae Ras was plunged into darkness around half an hour before kick-off by a power cut.

Kick-off was delayed by five minutes as club staff worked tirelessly to get all systems back up and running, and the same occurred midway through Phil Parkinson's post-match press conference in the stadium's media room.

The 57-year-old battled on admirably as journalists put questions to the manager in total darkness.

But there was nothing dark about the mood of Parkinson and all connected to Wrexham after a pivotal victory.

"I think there's a small element of relief. Psychologically it's always in the back of everyone's minds," said midfielder Jordan James of ending the winless home run.

"Tonight was about trying to focus on the performance and that reflects in the result so we're all really pleased."

With games against the likes of high-flying Middlesbrough and Coventry City to come before the next international break, the outcome against Oxford was always likely to go a long way to dictating the mood of the next few weeks.

And it will have undoubtedly lifted some of the pressure on the players who had every right to have beaming smiles on their faces after lighting up the Stok Cae Ras with a performance that warranted a crucial three points.