Phil Parkinson: Wrexham must forget 'frustration' of defeat

Tom O'Connor, who made his comeback for the reserves in midweek, joined Wrexham from Burton Albion in January 2022

Manager Phil Parkinson says Wrexham cannot let the "frustration" of recent results affect them in the closing weeks of the League Two campaign.

Wrexham lost 1-0 at home to Tranmere last Saturday having been held to a goalless draw by Harrogate in the previous game.

Parkinson's side are third ahead of Saturday's trip to Grimsby.

"We've got to make sure we don't let the frustration of the defeat affect us going into the next game," he said.

"You analyse the game back, with the emotion taken out of it, and the reason we didn't win was because not a large percentage of our decision making was good enough.

"Some of it was excellent and we still produced some real moments of quality but probably not enough for the pressure we had.

"Secondly Tranmere defended incredibly well, some of the last-ditch blocks that they got were probably a level that won't defend like it again this season and thirdly nothing fell for us in the box.

"But if we keep playing in the manner that we've done, improve our decision making and also increase our ratio of hitting the target then something's going to fall for us."

Parkinson has insisted his team remain "in the mix" in the League Two title race despite failing to win their last two games.

The manager said that Saturday's game at Grimsby Town was the start of an "eight-game season" for the Dragons, who won last season's National League title.

"At this stage of the season there's that added importance because we're in that countdown period," Parkinson added.

"It's a very important game like the last eight are going to be.

"We're looking to go there to build on the Morecambe win."

Midfielder Tom O'Connor played an hour in the reserve side's 7-1 win over Salford City in midweek having recovered from a broken foot he suffered against Newport County in January.

Ryan Barnett has had a scan on a foot injury that forced him to go off following a heavy tackle in the loss to Tranmere Rovers.

Parkinson said it was a "relief" that the scan had shown there was no break and that the winger would be monitored on a daily basis.

Defender Callum McFadzean has been added to Wrexham's EFL squad for the remainder of the season.

The 30-year-old missed out on a place in the squad, limited to 22 players, for the league campaign last September.

"There was a space spare and Callum's been working very hard and done really well in training," Parkinson added.

"One of the reasons he got left out initially was because he hadn't recovered from his injury at the back end of last year in pre-season.

"He was playing a bit of catch-up and then we obviously had to make the decision and he fell the wrong side of that."