Wrexham fell to just a second league defeat of the season on Tuesday night, losing 1-0 in a flat performance against Stevenage.
This was part two of an away double-header for Wrexham and we have sadly seen two fairly toothless performances.
Wrexham drew 0-0 at Leyton Orient over the weekend with O’s boss Richie Wellens feeling his side should have won the game.
A point on the road was no great disaster but Wrexham drew another blank away at Stevenage on Tuesday night – and weren’t able to take a point this time.
Louis Thompson’s long-range strike in the first half beat Arthur Okonkwo and was enough to seal the three points for Stevenage.
Wrexham had plenty of possession but just couldn’t find a way through Stevenage’s impressive back line.
Phil Parkinson highlights Wrexham problem
Wrexham just aren’t clicking in the final third right now.
Tuesday’s goalless display at Stevenage means it’s now just three goals scored in the last four games – and all of those came from set pieces.
Open play attacking has become a concern for Wrexham and another problem seems to be bothering boss Phil Parkinson.
Speaking to Wrexham’s official YouTube channel, Parkinson highlighted that Wrexham failed to respond correctly after conceding.
Parkinson was happy with how Wrexham started the game but suggested that his players ‘wasted’ most of the first half.
Parkinson believes that Wrexham were ‘jolted’ too much from conceding goals and believes his squad need to cope better with going behind.
“First 10 minutes, I thought we passed the ball well and we carried on from the weekend, where we finished the game well and had more control,” said Parkinson.
“The goal knocked us too much. We kind of wasted the last 35 minutes of the first half because we didn’t work hard enough to play, we then became second best in the duels. Obviously, the goal gave them a huge lift but our game management in that period wasn’t what it needed to be.
“We know goals lift teams but it just knocked us too much. You’re going to concede goals, we haven’t conceded a lot this season but you’re going to concede. When you do, we have to respond better than we did today.
“Goals, they always knock teams, we know that, but I just felt it jolted us too much tonight,” he added.
Deja vu for Parkinson
This is not the first time that Parkinson has offered such comments.
In fact, Parkinson suggested after losing to Birmingham City in September that Wrexham’s reaction to conceding ‘wasn’t what it needed to be’.
Parkinson made that clear to the Wrexham squad but seemingly saw similar signs against Stevenage too.
Wrexham have been on an incredible high in recent years and losing games has not really been a familiar outcome.
Parkinson clearly feels that his players aren’t showing the right mentality when going behind and that is something to work on moving forward.
League One is a tough division and Wrexham will concede goals and lose games – that’s just the nature of the game.
Parkinson wants to make sure the lows aren’t too low though and will be desperate to solve this issue after multiple instances in recent weeks.