‘I’d love to have given them more fight’ – Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson says over 7,000 Red Dragons fans at

“I would have loved to have given them more fight,” Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said of the roughly 7,000 Red Dragons supporters at Blackburn, saying his team deserved more in the 4-1 thumping.

In the FA Cup fourth round at Ewood Park, Wrexham was hammered. The League Two team’s Andy Cannon scored a spectacular first goal, but Rovers won easily thanks to goals from Sammie Szmodics, Sondre Tronstad, and Sam Gallagher. Parkinson was unhappy with his team’s performance, since Gallagher’s goal came about as a result of a terrible error made by goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo, who rushed out of his goal and was left stranded 30 yards out.

“We were a bit nervous for the first five to ten minutes, but then we got into the game, got the goal, and had a great chance to go up 2-0,” he said to BBC Sport. Fair enough, they scored another fine goal, however the referees allowed them to take the throw-in from fifteen yards out instead of where it should have been.

“We found the third to be unsatisfactory, and the fourth ends the game.” Then, we appeared dejected; we had a difficult evening. We can learn a lot from it. You will be penalized if you are not switched on. Though we’ve had some amazing evenings, this wasn’t our night.

“We’ll get back together and focus on the league. With 7,000 people backing the cause, it’s quite the sight. I wish I had fought them harder. I appreciate everyone’s attendance, particularly on a Monday night. We are grateful to everyone from Wrexham for their amazing work.”

Blackburn will take the fifth round match that Wrexham could have secured against Newcastle. After receiving too many yellow cards, Parkinson was removed from the touchline and forced to watch from the stands.

The club are currently second in League Two, five points behind leaders Stockport with a game in hand. They face Salford this weekend.