Phil Parkinson is not a happy man after seeing his Wrexham team suffer defeat at the hands of Reading.
There was much optimism around Wrexham going into their latest midweek League One fixture.
The Red Dragons secured a 1-0 win over Rotherham United on Saturday, while Wycombe Wanderers drew with Peterborough United.
This saw Wrexham go level on points with the second-place outfit, aware a win on March 11th would have seen them climb above Wycombe in the table before their meeting on Saturday.
However, despite having won four of their last four away league matches, what unfolded on Tuesday was one of the most disappointing showings we have seen from the Welsh outfit on the road in some time.
When all was said and done, Wrexham lost 2-0 to The Royals, thanks to goals in the 51st and 55th minutes of the match.
Fans were furious at Phil Parkinson during the defeat, but the manager has been expressing his frustration at someone else post-match.
Phil Parkinson makes ‘very disappointed’ claim after Wrexham lose to Reading
Very few players covered themselves in glory across the 90 minutes, with Jay Rodriguez once again offering little up front.
Sebastian Revan was poor versus Reading, despite previously finding some great form in recent weeks.
However, when speaking after the match, Parkinson opted to direct his ire at the referee rather than any of the club’s players.
The manager was not happy after Eoghan O’Connel gave away a penalty for Reading’s first goal, which Parkinson claimed was ‘one of the softest penalty decisions I’ve seen in a long time’.
He said: “So it was a game of few chances really. I thought it turned on a ridiculous decision by the referee to give a penalty. He should be very disappointed with that call because the best refs get the big decisions right, and it’s never a penalty in a million years.
“Obviously gave them a huge lift. The second goal we could do better with, came with a quick fire goal and then after that we had chances to get back in the game we had things cleared off the line the keepers made good saves, you felt if we got one goal with we go and get back in the game but it wasn’t to be.
“But the game swung, of course, we will look at ourselves, but it swung on one of the softest penalty decisions I’ve seen in a long time.”
Phil Parkinson verdict on Wrexham performance vs Reading
While the referee’s decision to award a penalty obviously didn’t help Wrexham, they had been poor for much of the clash prior to conceding it anyway, with Parkinson labelling it a ‘flat’ first 45 minutes.
He said: “Very disappointed from our point of view. First half was quite a flat game, really, there’s two teams there that had tough games at the weekend.
“They had probably too much comfortable possession for our liking but we probably had the best chance in that half with Barney coming on the back post and the lad’s cleared it off the line.”
Wrexham now go into their meeting with Wycombe on the same points but with an eight-worse goal difference and having played a game more.