Wrexham quartet closing in on injury returns

Wrexham have claimed four points from their opening four Championship matches under Phil Parkinson this season

Ollie Rathbone, Josh Windass, George Thomason and Nathan Broadhead have all stepped up their returns from injury prior to Wrexham's Championship contest with Queens Park Rangers on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Rathbone has been sidelined since sustaining an ankle injury in the pre-season fixture with Sydney FC while Thomason is yet to feature since joining Wrexham from Bolton Wanderers in the summer.

Summer signings Windass and Broadhead both missed games prior to the international break but are also closing in on being available for Parkinson's side.

"Ollie Rathbone's on the grass running which is great to see. Everybody knows what we think of Ollie," said Parkinson.

"He was a key signing for us last year and when he got injured in Australia it was obviously a blow. He's a fit lad and hopefully he can knock a few days off the predicted time he's going to be out.

"Josh has joined in with bits of training this week, as has Nathan Broadhead which is good.

"George Thomason, who our supporters haven't seen at all yet, it was kind of an innocuous injury, but he's a good player and it's been great to see him back out with the boys this week."

Following losses to Southampton and West Bromwich Albion in their opening two Championship fixtures - either side of an EFL Cup win against Hull City - Wrexham enjoyed an unbeaten week before the break, having claimed wins at Preston North End and Millwall after a home draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

Following the impressive 2-0 triumph at Millwall, Parkinson brought in Ben Sheaf, Dom Hyam and Issa Kaboré on transfer deadline day to take the total of incomings at the club over the summer to 13.

And Parkinson says his new-look squad showed positive signs of gelling during the course of the two-week break.

"Ben's a player we've been looking at for a while. Negotiations can sometimes take longer than everybody wants, but it was great to bring Ben here, he's a high-calibre player and it's a fresh challenge for him coming up here," said Parkinson.

"Dom has got a lot of experience at Championship level. He's a versatile player and I'm really pleased to have his character in the building.

"Issa's a player we'd looked at earlier in the window. It wasn't until the window was closing we felt we could bring him here.

"We haven't seen him on the training pitch yet but he's had two great games for his country. We'll assess him tomorrow and integrate him as quickly as we can.

"The areas we wanted to fill, in general, we've done that. We've got to now really work with these players and get to know them as individuals as quickly as we can - but already, you can see over the last 10 days, there's a good spirit forming among the lads."