MICKEY THOMAS believes Wrexham made big strides this season but the Racecourse legend says the Reds came up short in big games at the end of the campaign.

Phil Parkinson's side suffered a 1-0 defeat to Bromley at Wembley in the FA Trophy showpiece and a 5-4 loss to Grimsby Town in Saturday's National League play-off semi-final signalled the end of the promotion challenge.

It was the Mariners loss, which leaves Wrexham planning for a 15th season in non-league, that was hardest for Thomas to take.

"I am not bothered about the Wembley one. The league was always going to be the priority," said Thomas.

"When this settles down then you will see the disappointment of how close we were.

"It is sickening. The fans have come in their thousands to watch the game, expectations are high and unfortunately we didn't deliver at the crucial time.

"It is about winning these big games, coming out on top, and the last two we haven't done that - the Wembley one and Grimsby in the play-offs."

With a place in the play-off final up for grabs, Wrexham and Grimsby both struggled defensively but the Mariners scored a 119th minute winner to settle an epic contest.

Thomas was gutted the Reds failed to win a crucial match to keep the promotion dream alive.

"It is disappointing. It is heartbreaking because we have come so far," said Thomas.

"We didn't perform as well as we could have done at a crucial time; defensively we were all over the place and it is a huge disappointment to everyone in Wrexham.

"You look at the season and we got into a good position, we didn't get automatic promotion and in a play-off game it can go either way.

"Grimsby put on a good performance and they got the win, but defensively we were disappointing.

"It is hard to take. You just have to win the game and we didn't do it at the most crucial time.