Phil Parkinson has explained why any talk of Wrexham achieving promotion this season is premature after a shock FA Cup first round defeat.

The Red Dragons lost 1-0 away on Sunday at League Two Harrogate Town – a team 38 places lower than them in the English football pyramid. A headed goal from Harrogate’s Jack Muldoon midway through the first half was enough to win the tie as Wrexham star strikers Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer struggled to take their chances.

The result was a low point on an otherwise positive week for the club off the pitch after it welcomed new US investors and co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought a majority stake in the city’s Wrexham Lager brewery. Wrexham currently sits third in League One after accumulating 25 points in their opening 13 games, but head coach Parkinson believes the Harrogate result is a reminder they still have a long way to go to achieve a third successive promotion.

Speaking after the live TV fixture, he told broadcaster ITV: “It’s so early in the season to start talking about promotion. We’re a quarter of the way into the season, and there’s a lot of football to play. We’ve got a lot of improving to do, and this is a reality check for us. We’ll get back in training, ready to work again for next week against Mansfield.”

Wrexham missed a number of good chances to level the score as some of their big name players failed to step up. Summer signing Mo Faal did manage to head the ball into the net late on in the match, but it was ruled offside.

Despite describing it as a close call, Parkinson did not think his side were clinical enough overall. He said: “I thought we dominated the game for the first 25 minutes. There was probably not enough conviction in our crossing and our finishing, and then we gave a team who are good at hanging in there in games the opportunity to do that in the second half.

Wrexham star striker Paul Mullin failed to find the net against Harrogate

Wrexham star striker Paul Mullin failed to find the net against Harrogate ( 

Image:

James Baylis – AMA/Getty Images)

“We pinned them in for practically the whole game and we’ve had about 30 crosses over the course of the game into the box. We couldn’t find that moment, and when we did, the linesman ruled it offside, which looks a very, very marginal call to me. A lot of our approach play was good, but football’s about doing things in and around the penalty box, being clinical and having that ruthless edge. We didn’t show that enough today.”

One of the rare positives from the game saw Jon Dadi Bodvarsson receive his debut after signing as a free agent towards the end of last month. The Icelandic international striker came close to scoring after coming on as a second half substitute, forcing a good save out of Harrogate goalkeeper James Belshaw.

He told Wrexham’s official media team after the match that he was pleased to have joined the club.

Bodvarsson said: “It’s massive for me. It’s been a while since I’ve been in competitive football as I’ve been a free agent for a while. I’ve been keeping fit in Iceland with my local club that I grew up with. Football wise, I’m not too far off it, it’s just that you get the best fitness by getting minutes like today. I have a point to prove myself as well and I just want to start well for the club.”