Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson wants his players to “block out everything” surrounding promotion talk and concentrate on what they need to do after the 2-1 win over Blackpool in Sky Bet League One.
James McClean and Ollie Rathbone scored midway through the second half to give the Red Dragons all three points on the seaside, despite a late Rob Apter consolation.
Parkinson also praised his team’s approach to dealing with their opponents, saying “I thought we were very accomplished in everything we did without the ball.
“Blackpool are an excellent side. They’ve got some really good players. Steve Bruce has got them playing brilliantly and they’ve been on a good run.
“In possession, I thought we were very good today, we were really positive. We found the spaces, which with their 4-4-2 kind of inevitably appear.
“We had some great chances in the first half, two or three, and didn’t take them. Their goalkeeper made some good saves, but it was a case of more of the same after the break.
“There was a bit of negativity, I would imagine, after we didn’t win last week. But now it’s the other way, people would be starting to think we’ve done the job now.
“I said to the lads ‘we’re blocking everything out, and concentrating on what we need to do in the dressing room, starting with tomorrow.’
“We’re all in training tomorrow, and we’re going to be ready for next Saturday.
“We can only control one thing and it’s our mindset. And it’s now going to be completely about keeping our feet on the floor, and we’re going to come out fighting to finish this season off strongly.”
Tangerines boss Bruce said: “There was a blatant foul for the first goal…but if we’re being brutally honest, the better team won today. We’ll have to hold our hands up to that.
“Full credit to Wrexham, you can see why they’re on the cusp of going up. They were tough, resilient, strong in their defending and they’ve got a nice carrot on the stick of trying to get promotion again.
“I thought all over the pitch that we didn’t play well enough. We didn’t fight for the second balls, we give it away too often, it was a struggle for us against a really good side.
“But I was disappointed with the way we played, especially given the way we’ve been playing as of late.
“We huffed and puffed all afternoon, we stuck at it and we got a goal late on but we’ve got to be honest enough that we were beaten by the better team. You need to be at your A-game, and we weren’t.
“Like against Rotherham a couple of weeks ago, which was one of our biggest games, and when you lose a couple of games like these back-to-back, it’s cost us.
Speaking about players who were not in his squad for the defeat, Bruce said, “Unfortunately, Sonny Carey hurt his knee, and he wasn’t fit today. He’s been playing very well over the last few months; he’s been arguably our best player. So, taking him out of it, especially in a big game like today, was frustrating. But we have enough people on the bench to fill in. We missed him.
“But I was disappointed with the way we played today. We weren’t anywhere near good enough, and a big compliment for that has to go to Wrexham. They came here and they really did a job on us.”
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