PHIL PARKINSON admitted his side were nowhere near good enough at both ends of the pitch after suffering a first National League defeat of the season.

The Reds, who went into a 15th campaign in non-league as title favourites, lost 2-0 against Chesterfield at The Technique Stadium.

Despite making a lively start, Wrexham went behind in the 10th minute after full-back Jeff King netted while a mistake by goalkeeper Mark Howard led to a second goal before half-time.

The Spireites, also expected to be challenging for top spot, could have led by more at the break with Wrexham shaky at the back and Parkinson slammed the goals his side conceded.

“We conceded two avoidable goals,” said Parkinson. “We started the game well and I thought we were in control.

“The first goal, we let the full-back run and we spoke about how key that was with the way Chesterfield play.

“And the second one is just deal with the ball.

“There is no need to go back to Mark and when it goes back to Mark, he has got to deal with it, so we have handed them a two-goal start when we were doing okay in the game.”

Wrexham failed to create any chances in the first half and keeper Ross Fitzsimmons wasn’t tested after the interval, with Howard redeeming himself with some crucial saves to prevent Chesterfield winning by a bigger margin.

Parkinson wasn’t happy with Wrexham’s end product in the final third.

“I thought we huffed and we puffed, and some of the approach play was alright,” he said.

“But the quality of our crossing and the quality of the shooting and final ball was not where it needed to be.

“We are better than that - we have got more quality, and we have got to have better standards.

“Set-play delivery was poor, too many were headed out of the box by them.

“I think the story is the goals first of all and then for the play we had, we need to produce more.”

Despite trailing at the break, Parkinson, who made four changes to the side that started Saturday’s 1-1 draw in extreme heat at Yeovil, still felt his side could get something out of the game.

But the deficiencies at both ends of the pitch meant it was a miserable night for nearly 1,900 travelling Reds fans.

“I still felt at half-time that if we showed composure and a bit more quality when it was needed, which I know we have got in the team, that we could get back in the game," said Parkinson.

“The teams were separated by us switching off on the first goal and making a basic error for the second one.

“When you come away from home, we have got to have the resilience to keep a clean sheet; we can’t hand teams goals like that.

“And we have got to have a little bit more belief in us in and around the box because I feel we have got better quality than we have shown in the last two games.”