PHIL PARKINSON reserved special praise for Matty James after the midfielder battled through a back problem to help inspire Wrexham's welcome 4-1 win against bottom of the table Preston North End at The Racecourse.
The 35-year-old returned to the starting line-up after missing two games due to an injury he sustained during the international break and Parkinson believes his presence at the heart of midfield was a key factor in the Reds much-improved performance.
Parkinson felt his side addressed several of the shortcomings from the disappointing 2-1 home defeat against West Brom in the previous outing.
"When you say after Tuesday what do we need more of, it was better defending on the transition and make sure we don't open the centre of the pitch," said the Reds' boss.
"Matty coming back in secured the centre of the pitch for us brilliantly.
"Special mention for Matty because he's had an injection, he's only really trained half the session Thursday but there was never a doubt in Matty's mind that he was ready to put himself up to play.
"We needed to have more final third play, more touches in the opposition box impacting the opposition back line more, Sam Smith came in and really helped us with that.
"I think everything we needed to improve on we did. It is always tough when you play a team who have been wounded themselves with a defeat at Birmingham.
"It could have been a tough game but we made it, not easy, but we made it comfortable with the manner of our performance."
Joe Worrall put Wrexham ahead in the first half and although the visitors quickly equalised, former Preston midfielder Ben Whiteman scored against his old club to make it 2-1 at the break before Sam Smith and Kieffer Moore made sure of the points with two quick goals in the second half.
Although James had only completed limited training in the build-up to the match after requiring an injection, Parkinson hailed his determination to make himself available.
"All the chats we have when we meet players, there's got to be certain qualities in your character to come and play for Wrexham because everyone wants to beat us," he added.
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"We're a target, there's an expectation. There's noise at every club when you lose but it's intensified here and you need people with mentality and strength of character, and Matty has got that in abundance.
"Not only that, he's got real nous on the football pitch and he showed that in his performance.
"For the last 10 days, he's had half, three-quarters of a training session, but you wouldn't have really noticed that on the pitch.
"Now we've got a week with him, hopefully he'll wake up tomorrow and his back will be fine, and we've got a good week with him on the training pitch."
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