PHIL PARKINSON says losing to rivals Newport County in the Welsh derby “hurt” but has backed his players to “come back stronger” in their next match against Blackburn Rovers.

Wrexham missed the chance to go top of League Two after losing 1-0 against the Exiles at Rodney Park on Saturday, with 1,400 travelling supporters witnessing the first defeat of the year.

Still second in the table and two points behind leaders Stockport County who didn't play at the weekend, the promotion push is put on hold as the Reds face Championship outfit Blackburn at Ewood Park in Monday night's FA Cup fourth round tie.

"We have just got to dust ourselves down," said Parkinson.

"It hurts when it is a local derby and our fans have come down in their numbers and given us fantastic support but a lot contributed to the defeat, we will review it as we always do and come back stronger next week."

Wrexham were given a mountain to climb when defender Will Boyle was shown a straight red card following a dangerous tackle after just 18 minutes.

The ten-men Reds never looked like getting anything out of the game despite a change in tactics, with wing-back Ryan Barnett starting the second half in attack alongside Paul Mullin who had been deployed as the lone striker following Boyle's dismissal.

"We went four at the back at half-time and felt the pace of Ryan and Paul playing as split strikers would give Newport a problem but then you need the quality of the pass for those two to get in and we never really achieved that," added Parkinson.

"We then put Ollie Palmer on and Jake Bickerstaff after that so we tried everything but the more attacking substitutes you make, sometimes it makes you so open that you can't get that foothold in the game.

"We never really got a period where we looked like we could get a goal back. We never really got that quality in our play.

"Fair play to Newport, they used the conditions well and pressed right onto us.

"We never really got a foothold or implemented what we felt we could do at half-time to go on and get back in the game."