GOING straight up means Wrexham have been given a longer summer break and it makes all the difference to Phil Parkinson.

The Reds secured a top-three finish in League Two, making it back-to-back promotions for the first time in the club's history,

Competition for an automatic promotion place was fierce but Wrexham stepped up a gear in the run-in, finishing the campaign with five successive wins.

That meant avoiding the play-offs which kicked off yesterday and although that is another route to gain a place in League One, Parkinson was pleased to achieve the main aim.

"The play-offs are obviously something you want to avoid when you are going for promotion," said the Reds' boss.

"If you go to Wembley and win it's a great occasion but if you go through the play-offs and you don't win there, when you see teams at the start of next season, they have had less time to recover in the summer and it is really difficult to pick the group up after that.

"If we had been in the play-offs we'd have given it a good go but obviously the aim was to get in the top-three and we managed to achieve that."

Wrexham will come up against the likes of Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town, Charlton Athletic and local rivals Shrewsbury Town in the third tier next season, with the fixtures released next month.

"It is an exciting club to be part of and the supporters will be really looking forward to the fixture list coming out in June like we all will be," added Parkinson.

"But it is important everybody has that break now and switches off, and comes back ready to have a charge next season."