Phil Parkinson has challenged Wrexham to produce an immediate response after their home defeat by West Bromwich Albion in the Championship.
Wrexham had looked on course for the win when Kieffer Moore’s stunning 30-yard strike put them ahead midway through the second half. But two Albion goals in the final 11 minutes turned the game around, Isaac Price and substitute Aune Heggebo scoring to send the visitors home with a 2-1 victory and a first league win in four games.
The loss was Wrexham’s third of the season and denied them back-to-back home wins, which they had been aiming to achieve for the first time since February.
Parkinson said the manner of the defeat made it harder to take, and that his players must now regroup. “When you’ve lost a game at home it’s time to batten down the hatches and come out strong as a group, and that’s what we’re going to do at the weekend,” he said.
“I’m sure we’ll take criticism for the defeat. That’s inevitable and we totally accept that. But there’s a lot of resilience at that training ground and we’re going to show it in the build-up to Preston.”
Reflecting further on the result, Parkinson added: “When you lose in that manner, it’s obviously harder, isn’t it? Because the lads could feel it, the game was there for us. No-one’s going to feel sorry for us in football. We’ve got to find a solution, look at the game and see which areas can we do better.”
The manager also praised Moore for the goal that gave Wrexham the lead. The Wales international was substituted soon after scoring, with Parkinson insisting the 34-year-old needed to be protected after playing the full game in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Derby County.
“Goals like that deserve to be part of a winning performance,” Parkinson said. “It was a brilliant goal and that’s four he’s got for the season, and he’s got a few assists in there as well. He’s had a really strong start to the season and he’s scored all different types of goals as well. He played his first 90 for a while at the weekend and we went with him again, but also we’ve got to protect him to a certain degree.”
Wrexham are at the Racecourse again on Saturday when they face bottom-of-the-table Preston North End.