BEN TOZER felt Stockport County were “there for the taking” and Wrexham didn’t stamp their authority on the game between two of the National League promotion favourites.

Phil Parkinson’s men suffered a second defeat of the campaign as they went down 2-1 at Edgeley Park.

Paul Mullin gave Wrexham the perfect start by scoring after just 50 minutes but although more chances went begging to extend the lead in the first half, Tozer felt the Reds could still have done a lot better.

And it proved costly as Stockport equalised three minutes after the break before scoring a late winner, leaving the centre-back disappointed with the second half performance.

“I don’t think the first half was as good as we think,” said Tozer. “We were still a bit off the pace.

“Because it was a slow game in the first 20 minutes, I don’t know whether that meant that we felt like the whole half was going to be slow.

“Second half, the disappointing thing was I don’t know if we have gone in hard enough and worked hard enough as a team which is absolutely non-negotiable if you ask me for any game of football or any training session.

“Little things like that are frustrating but we move on and we learn from it.”

Despite having the upper hand in the first half, Tozer felt Wrexham did not take full advantage against a Stockport side who have had an inconsistent start to the season.

“Don’t get me wrong, we played some good football first half,” said Tozer.

“I don’t know whether it is just me and my standards - I demand certain things and I demand it from myself as well - but I went in at half-time and I was a bit frustrated with the performance because I felt like they were kind of there for the taking and we didn’t really put them to the sword.”

Tozer was disappointed with the marking for Stockport’s leveller from a corner with the home side also taking advantage of poor defending to score the winner 10 minutes from time.

“It is never a good time to concede a goal but three minutes after half-time when you have had your talk and spoke about things, it is not good enough,” said Tozer, who will be looking for seventh placed Wrexham to bounce back with three points at second bottom Aldershot on Saturday.

“Someone has lost their man on a corner.

“Without pointing fingers or naming names, the person who has lost his man knows it is his fault and hopefully he learns from that and we can move forward.

“Things can always be better. There is always something to be better at.

“We go back to the training ground and work on it, we stick together and we move forward.”