After the final whistle at Chesterfield on Tuesday, many noticed something unusual. In acknowledging the superb away support, Phil Parkinson looked more wound up than usual, punching the air passionately like a Lancastrian Jürgen Klopp. It was a little out of character as Parkinson usually maintains a calm exterior, but it was totally understandable. Some fans see him as tactically inflexible, but we won that titanic match because he made decisive alterations, winning the battle between two experienced coaches.

Perhaps I should qualify that statement. We also won because in the opening half hour, when Parkinson was outmanoeuvred by his counterpart Paul Cook, Rob Lainton kept us in the game with a string of excellent saves. However, Parkinson addressed the problem that led to Lainton’s busy evening and we took control of the rest of the game.

Parkinson started the game with a similar shape to the Wealdstone win, quite understandably. However, it was clear that Dan Jarvis was being pushed further up the pitch; I’ve never seen him used in that manner before, essentially as an out-and-out striker.

However, that didn’t work because Cook had concocted a surprise of his own, and it was substantially more radical than nudging an attacking midfielder ten yards higher.

Chesterfield have played three at the back all season, but were awful last Saturday, so Cook responded by switching to a back four. It clearly caught us out, and we were unable to come to grips with what they were doing, especially as Calvin Miller, usually a full back, was drifting inside into advanced central positions and creating space as he pulled Wrexham’s shape around.

The result was a lot of space in the area between midfield and defence, usually occupied by Tom O’Connor, who found himself with too many fires to put out. 

The problems caused by this were varied: Liam Mandeville, one of the best creative players in the division, revelled in that space; Akwasi Assante enjoyed dropping off to pose difficult questions to his marker; overwhelmed, we tended to thrash clearances straight back to Chesterfield rather than try to feed our strikers; and our midfield and wing-backs dropped deep so they wouldn’t be able to support the forwards if they did manage to hold the ball up.

We only survived because Lainton was outstanding and the three centre backs, despite being outnumbered, stood as firm as possible in the circumstances.

And then Parkinson stepped in.

By switching to a box midfield, he solved all those problems with one decision move. O’Connor now had Luke Young for company in that space in front of the defence, and the duo immediately set about hoovering up the ball when Chesterfield threatened.

Also, the change allowed us to be more measured with the ball. We were no longer being stretched around, and the distances between players were good. The wing-backs could start to venture forwards, knowing they had the two midfielders and Ollie Palmer to combine with, and we began to threaten.

At half time Parkinson made another bold move, replacing the in-form Jarvis with Liam McAlinden. Jarvis was unfortunate as his withdrawal had more to do with the game not suiting his qualities than any deficiency in his performance. In contrast, McAlinden loved the high tempo of the game and the opportunity to drive forwards, supporting Palmer and hassling Chesterfield’s ropey defence. 

The result was a second half in which we ought to have scored more than two goals, and battered Chesterfield on their own patch. 

It was glorious to watch. No wonder Parkinson was so pumped up after the game.