Phil Parkinson's side beat bottom of the table Preston North End 4-1 at The Racecourse on Saturday to get back to winning ways in the Championship.

Joe Worrall and Whiteman - facing his former club who he left in the summer - gave Wrexham a 2-1 lead at the interval with Sam Smith and Kieffer Moore on target after the break to seal victory.

The midfielder felt the Reds fully deserved three points after taking control of the game in the second half and believes their quality on the ball was the key difference.

"If you score against a team like Preston at the minute, then they will get deflated," he said.

"They're obviously down there and when spaces open up then you've got to be really dominant with the football.

"I don't think we've been dominant with the football for a while, if I'm being brutally honest, but we were second-half and we deserved the win.

"We played really well in the second-half especially and we got what we deserved."

Whiteman believes maintaining control of matches is one of the biggest factors behind successful Championship campaigns and says Wrexham still have room for improvement in that area.

"I think the teams who are dominant usually will get up," he said.

"If you look at the teams who've gone up in the Championship over the past few years, they have been very dominant with the football and we have to get better at that.

"Also keep the back door shut as well and once we do that, we've got players who are very good for the level and we need to find on the ball.

"I've been in the Championship now for years and years, and if you don't dominate the ball and you're not creating a lot of chances, then you're not going to be successful. It's as simple as that.

"You can't wing your way through a season. We need to be better."

Victory took Wrexham up to 14th in the table with 14 points from the opening 11 games.

With only a quarter of the season gone, Whiteman, who made more than 200 appearances in five and a half years with Preston, where he was captain, says the Reds are now approaching a crucial spell in the campaign.

"There's so much football to play. I always say from November to February, they're the months where you find out what people are about," he said.

"They're the crunch months if you want to get promoted because the games come thick and fast.

"There's loads of turnover, and we'll see where we are from there."

Whiteman has featured in every league game so far this term and is enjoying life in north Wales.

"I'm loving it, I love everything about the place," he added.

"I love the feeling, I love the atmosphere in the dressing room and I love the ambition that we want to win and want to get promoted.

"That's something that I thrive off and obviously I really want."