PHIL PARKINSON admits his side were architects of their own downfall after Wrexham suffered the heaviest defeat since he took charge of the club.

The Reds' seven game unbeaten run in League Two came to an abrupt end as Stockport County dished out a 5-0 thrashing at Edgeley Park.

County opened the scoring in the 21st minute and then grabbed two goals in quick succession to go 3-0 up at the break before adding a fourth early in the second half.

A late fifth goal condemned Wrexham to the worst defeat since Parkinson was appointed manager in July 2021 and the Reds' boss admits his players didn't help themselves, particularly in the first half.

"It's as bad a first half that I can remember us playing in terms of all the fundamentals in football," said Parkinson.

"So many times we gave the ball away cheaply in our own third and middle third, and put ourselves under pressure.

"Our selection of pass and then the weight of the pass, we put ourselves under so much pressure and coming away to Stockport it's about getting a platform in the game and start properly.

"Do the right things in the right areas of the pitch and build a performance but we were sloppy in everything that we did and we have got to take our medicine."

Stockport caused all sorts of problems on the break and poor defending allowed the home side to carve out a healthy lead at half-time with Wrexham second best.

"We have done okay on the road so far this season but they were just a yard quicker and a yard sharper all over the pitch, and they put us under pressure," said Parkinson.

"We had so many performances which were so far below par and it's difficult to explain that.

"I need to look at the reasons for that.

"When you come away from home you have got to make sure that in the early part of the game you make the right decisions on the ball and there were so many times we tried floaty kind of balls in our own half to give them the opportunity to press us and put us under pressure, and play the ball the ball backwards too many times.

"And when it came in our third, we didn't defend our box anywhere near well enough and we got punished."

There was no way way back after Stockport made it 4-0 and a late fifth goal put the seal on a third victory in a row for the Hatters, but this was definitely the best as far as manager Dave Challinor was concerned.

“I’m most pleased that we’ve been able to back up our last two wins with a performance like this," said Challinor.

“It’s a bit of a statement win, and one we thoroughly deserved.

“Even at half-time I didn’t necessarily feel comfortable because situations can change in a milli-second, but we kept asking questions in the second half and we got our rewards.”