THE promotion dream is still alive but Phil Parkinson is going to enjoy Wrexham’s big day out at Wembley.

The Reds needed to beat Dagenham and Redbridge at Victoria Road on the final day of the National League season and hope that Stockport County lost to Halifax Town to clinch the title.

A 3-0 defeat against the Daggers meant Wrexham’s result was irrelevant as the Hatters secured the title, signing off with a 2-0 win.

By finishing runners-up, Wrexham have avoided a play-off eliminator tie and will be at home to either Notts County or Grimsby or in the semi-final on Saturday May 28.

But the league is put on hold this Sunday as Parkinson’s men take on Bromley in the FA Trophy final at Wembley and Parkinson is looking forward to the occasion.

“It is a great game for us,” said Parkinson.

“Looking at the game at Wembley on Saturday (Liverpool beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final), we all watched it together and said ‘we are going to be there next week’.

“We worked hard to get there and we are going to enjoy that occasion, embrace the challenge that Bromley present and give a good account of ourselves, and see whether that is good enough on the day.”

There was disappointment after Wrexham failed to take care of their own business against Dagenham.

Knowing Stockport had gone into an early lead to take a big step towards automatic promotion, the below par Reds conceded three goals in the second half and will go go through the play-off route in their bid to join the Hatters back in the Football League.

The focus for now is the Trophy showpiece and Parkinson is delighted to have another big game to look forward to after missing out on the title.

“I am pleased we have got it. I am trying to avoid the flat feeling it didn’t happen but it is inevitable so we can now just put the league to one side,” said Parkinson.

“We have got a few lads who played with little niggles, we kind of patched them up and got them out there, and we need to review that this week.

“Myself, Steve Parkin and Kev Mulholland are going to look very closely this week because we have got to look at all scenarios, and make sure everybody is ready.

“We need to make sure that we spend this week reflecting on what we need to do in these next hopefully three games.”

Parkinson admits news of Stockport’s early goal left Wrexham deflated but he is expecting a response against Bromley.

“It is difficult because the lads care a lot, they care a lot about the club and they go about their business wanting to win,” added Parkinson.

“You could just feel it knock the stuffing out of us; it shouldn’t do because we are professional but sometimes it just does.

“I felt certainly in the second half that happened.

“We went away from how I know we can play but we will get back to that next week.”