Fri 26 Sep - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 5mins
An early kick-off awaits Derby County in the Sky Bet Championship as they travel to the STōK Cae Ras to take on Wrexham on Saturday.
Head Coach John Eustace’s men will be looking to bounce back after a 1-0 home defeat against Preston North End last time out.
Derby’s trips on the road have seen them take four points from the last two league encounters, and they will be hoping to build on that when they face Wrexham on Saturday (12:30pm kick-off).
Andi Weimann’s 84th-minute goal at The Hawthorns claimed the team’s first league win of the 2025/26 season two weeks ago against West Bromwich Albion and, before that, the Rams drew 2-2 with Ipswich Town at the end of August.
Derby will be backed by a sold-out away end in North Wales on Saturday. The Rams were given an allocation of 1,293 tickets, and these have sold out.
Those fans without a ticket are advised not to make the trip to Wrexham, as they will be unable to gain access to the stadium.
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Wrexham’s remarkable rise through the footballing pyramid is well-known and well-documented.
Since actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney brought the club in November 2020, the Red Dragons have engineered a record-breaking three promotions in three seasons.
The back-to-back-to-back rises through the divisions saw a side that had spent 12 years in the National League ascend to the second tier.
The first season under new ownership, 2020/2021, saw an eighth-place finish in the non-league’s highest division and manager Dean Keates was dismissed ahead of the following season.
Former Bolton Wanderers and Sunderland Manager Phil Parkinson took charge in the summer of 2021 and saw his side finish as runners-up and miss out on promotion via the play-offs at the end of his first season.
In 2022/23, Wrexham were promoted as league champions after coming out on top with 111 points from 46 games in a neck-and-neck race for promotion with Notts County - who went up via the play-offs after finishing four points behind the Welsh club.
Wrexham were then promoted at the first time of asking out of Sky Bet League Two, with 26 wins and 10 draws from 46 matches seeing them ascend in the second automatic promotion spot.
They then repeated the feat, finishing second in League One behind a record-breaking Birmingham City side in 2024/25.
Along the way, the Welsh outfit have had to recruit and change at each stage, with a sharp turnaround in their squad.
Striker Paul Mullin, who was brought in on a free ahead of the 2021/22 season, scored an impressive 105 goals in 165 appearances for the Red Dragons over five seasons.
Having found minutes limited in League One last time out, Mullin made a loan move to Wigan Athletic for the 2025/26 campaign - his status in the club’s history is cemented, but again the move is a sign of the drastic evolution required as the club have quickly risen up the levels.
Ahead of the new season, Wrexham added 13 new faces to their squad, with 12 permanent additions - including goalkeeper Danny Ward, defender Conor Coady and midfielder Lewis O’Brien, all of whom have Premier League experience, while they added further quality before the end of the transfer window with the likes of Josh Windass, Kieffer Moore, Nathan Broadhead, Callum Doyle, Ben Sheaf and Dominic Hyam.
So far this term, Parkinson’s side have two wins and one draw from their opening six matches, and enter Saturday’s match off the back of a 2-0 home win against League One side Reading in Round Three of the Carabao Cup.
Although the two clubs last met in competitive action all the way back in January 2007 - an FA Cup tie that Derby won 3-1 - there are still plenty of recent links between the two sides.
Last season, Jack Marriott, who spent three years on the books with Derby from 2018 to 2021, was a major player in Wrexham’s Sky Bet League One promotion success.
The attacker joined Derby from Peterborough United in July 2018 and went on to make 86 outings and bag 17 goals over the course of his time with the club before he had a loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday and then returned to his former club Peterborough.
Marriott joined the Red Dragons from Fleetwood Town midway through the 2023/24 campaign and made 48 appearances in all competitions, netting seven goals in his single season in North Wales. He made the switch to League One side Reading during the summer transfer window.
Current Derby County forward Kayden Jackson made 36 appearances and scored four times for Wrexham in the 2015/16 season - and his performances for the then-non-league side caught the eye of Barnsley, who secured promotion to the second-tier weeks after Jackson signed on the dotted line, seeing him move up three divisions with the transfer.
Head Coach John Eustace caught up with RamsTV ahead of Saturday’s trip to Wrexham.
Long-serving defender Craig Forsyth spoke to RamsTV to reflect on the opening stages of the season, discuss his inclusion in the Walk of Fame and preview the weekend’s encounter with the Red Dragons.
Tom Nield will take charge of his fourth second tier game of the 2025/26 campaign on Saturday. Last season, he oversaw 20 Championship matches, handing out 75 yellow cards and one red card.
Nield has held the whistle in a Rams game on four previous occasions, last officiating Derby's home fixture against Sheffield United in February 2025.
Conor Brown and Nigel Lugg will be the assistant referees, while John Busby will take on the fourth official role.
Live audio commentary for all of Derby County’s first team matches in the 2025/26 season - both league and cup fixtures - is available to RamsTV Audio subscribers based both in the UK and internationally.
Information about RamsTV's Video Live Streaming and other services for this season can be found here.
Full match reaction will be available on dcfc.co.uk and the Derby County App shortly after full time, with highlights and a full match replay available from midnight.
SToK Cae Ras
Middlesbrough
Hull City
Wrexham
Derby County
Norwich City
Birmingham City
Swansea City
Bristol City
