Wrexham, who travel to Pompey next Wednesday, came from behind to beat league leaders Coventry on Friday night

Phil Parkinson believes his Wrexham side laid down a marker ahead of their trip to Pompey next Wednesday night.

The Dragons boss claimed his players produced a ‘statement performance’ as they came from behind to beat league-leaders Coventry City 3-2 at the Racecourse Ground on Friday night - thanks to a perfect second-half hat-trick scored by Kieffer Moore.

Now, with a Championship trip to Fratton Park next on the agenda for a side now 11th in the table, Parkinson is hoping their fourth win of the campaign will make his players sit up and take notice of their obvious strengths -rather than the rest of the division.

Wrexham 3-2 Coventry - ‘definitely a statement performance’

Wrexham went into their meeting with the Sky Blues on the back of a home defeat to League One Cardiff in the Carabao Cup. They were also sat 16th in the standings - one point and two places above Pompey, who travel to Birmingham today before they can turn their attention to next week’s important home game.

The Welsh side’s last Championship outing, however, was a 1-1 draw at second-place Middlesbrough last weekend, a result that instilled a bit of much-needed belief into the side.

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Now Parkinson believes his players can kick on once more after inflicting a first league defeat of the season onFrank Lampard’s side - with Pompey next on their agenda.

‘It’s definitely a statement performance and win for us,’ said Parkinson.

‘Not a statement to anyone else, but for ourselves. I said after the Middlesbrough game that it should give us even more belief because it’s been growing.

‘We’ve had some terrific performances, but I’m very pleased because this was against an excellent side.

‘If you look at Coventry’s stats, not just the wins, they’re at the top of everything. They’ve got players in a really good vein of form at the moment.’

Parkinson has great belief in his Wrexham players

Wrexham’s trip to Fratton Park will be their first since October 1986, when they lost 2-0 to the Blues in the League Cup. You then have to go back to September 1982 for their last league meeting at PO4 - an old Division Three game that saw Pompey run out 3-0 winners.

The two clubs have never competed against each other at Championship level or above before. And as thoughts begin to turn to Wednesday night’s historic meeting, Parkinson praised his players for how they’ve stepped up to the challenges of second-tier football following their promotion from League One last season.

‘I keep saying to everyone, we’re not here to stop the opposition.

‘We’re here to play in a disciplined manner without the ball. But I’ve got great belief in these players and some of the football we played (against Coventry) was at a very high level.

‘In fairness to the crowd, they clapped the team off at half-time (after being behind at the break) and you could sense that positivity coming out in the second half.

‘The lads have responded in terrific fashion.’

For your next Pompey read: Birmingham City v Portsmouth: Early team and injury news as 13 out and 1 doubt for Championship contest