PHIL PARKINSON has reflected on what turned out to be a successful pre-season tour for Wrexham in North America.

Twelve months ago, there were trials and tribulations for the Reds as they played a trio of matches in the United States ahead of their return to the Football League.

Striker Paul Mullin was seriously injured in a victory against Manchester United, Chelsea handed out a 5-0 thumping, while the friendly in Philadelphia had to be curtailed due to an epic thunderstorm.

This time around, the Reds have completed an unbeaten tour, culminating with Saturday’s 4-1 win over Vancouver Whitecaps.

Looking back at his tour highlights, boss Parkinson said: “I’d never been to this stadium before and the crowd, the fact that they sold out the bottom tier and had that to maximum capacity, made a great energy into the ground.

“So, just the atmospheres in all three games have been incredible.

“The supporters, I feel, have been really involved in the matches and that is the highlight for me, because we’ve come into the US and now Canada.

“There’s been a lot of exposure about the club, but it’s important that the most important thing’s on the football pitch.

“We show what we’re all about and the documentary’s great and it’s brought a great profile to the club, but equally we’re all about that 90 minutes when it matters most.”

Wrexham made the most of their three 90-minute showdowns out on tour.

Things opened in promising fashion with a 1-1 draw against Premier League Bournemouth, while the Reds held the lead until late on during their 2-2 draw with English giants Chelsea.

Luke Bolton and Jack Marriott impressively netted for Wrexham during that midweek showdown, while goals from Seb Revan, James McClean, Elliot Lee and Jordan Davies saw the Reds through to a comfortable victory over Vancouver, in front of a crowd of almost 35,000 at BC Place.

Looking at the differences in approaches to the last two matches of the tour, Parkinson said: “I think the difference, watching the MLS, was the games are very open, you know, on transition.

“Teams commit a lot of players forward and when the ball changes hands, there is space and we looked at that in the games Vancouver had played and the game when I saw LA FC play, it was very similar.

“It was like attack, commit players forward, you lose it, the opposition has space to play.

“So, of course, against Chelsea, the pitch was tighter when we had the ball and it was harder to find the space.

“But, different challenges. Obviously, Chelsea have got a multi-million pound squad as we all know, but Vancouver Whitecaps are competing in a very good league against some world-class players.”

Wrexham will host Fleetwood Town at The STōK Racecourse in their final pre-season friendly this Saturday.