Wrexham reignited their Sky Bet Championship play-off hopes with a 2-0 home victory over Stoke.

Hull's home draw with Birmingham means Wrexham have cut the gap to sixth place to two points with three games left.

There was an air of anxiety at the SToK Cae Ras after consecutive defeats to Southampton and Birmingham, but first-half goals in the space of 69 seconds through George Thomason and Josh Windass eased the mood.

For Stoke, it was a sixth successive away defeat and the season can not end quick enough for the Potters, who drop to 17th.

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Back-to-back defeats for the first time since the opening week of the season persuaded Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson to make four changes, with the eye-catching switch being in goal.

Wales international Danny Ward had not played since dislocating an elbow at the end of August but got the nod to start ahead of Arthur Okonkwo.

Wrexham started as if their season was on the line and there were calls for a fourth-minute penalty after Sam Smith was shoved over by Bosun Lawal.

Referee Adam Herczeg was not interested and contact may have been outside the box in any case.

Thomason advanced 50 yards unchallenged after dispossessing Sorba Thomas to send a shot straight at Gavin Bazunu, but Wrexham's momentum was slowed by an efficient Stoke offside trap.

The breakthrough came after Lawal failed to clear George Dobson's free-kick and Ollie Rathbone, choosing placement rather than power, saw his effort cleared off the line by Ben Pearson.

Thomason's resulting 31st-minute corner flew straight over the head of Bazunu and into the far corner of his net, with Windass attempting to help it over the line.

There was no denying Windass just over a minute later after the forward capitalised on Aaron Cresswell's mistake to slot past Bazunu for his 13th league goal of the season.

Stoke showed some ambition after the break as Dan Scarr blocked Bae Jun-ho's goalbound effort but Wrexham were almost gifted a third after Thomason charged down the left and crossed.

Jesurun Rak-Sakyi's panicked clearance struck Smith and flew to safety when it could have easily embarrassed the defender.

The stretching Smith the headed over after Thomason and Windass had combined and Bazunu failed to collect.

Stoke went close to halving the deficit in the closing moments when Lamine Cisse struck the crossbar from close range, and their final hopes evaporated when Million Manhoef drove wide.

The managers

Wrexham's Phil Parkinson:

"The aim has been to take this to the wire and that's what we spoke to the lads about. Let's not hand the play-off place to the other teams.

"But how are we going to achieve that and taking the accountability and where we get our performance levels where they need to be to win games of football at this level?

"I honestly didn't know what the score was [at Hull] until I was coming off down the tunnel and someone said the game was still going but it was 1-1.

"So, of course, that is a bonus and we're not going to deny that. Birmingham, they're a good side as we saw last week, they're probably disappointed they're not in the mix.

"But they've done us a favour and now we go to Oxford and let's just see if we can keep this going right to the end."

Stoke's Mark Robins:

"There wasn't a great deal in it until two ridiculous moments.

"There are a lot of things that need sorting out. If people want to take the easy option they're not going to be for me.

"But it can be sorted out, it will be sorted out - and I'm looking forward to (doing) that.

"We need to make sure what we do in the summer stands us in good stead for a long time.

"This is a serious moment and I'm really going to get my teeth into it, because it can't carry on like this."

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