PHIL PARKINSON admits Wrexham should be having more shots on target for the amount of opportunities they are creating.

The Reds's promotion challenge in League Two took another dent after losing 1-0 to local rivals Tranmere Rovers in Saturday's derby at The Racecourse.

It was the second home game in a row where Wrexham have dominated possession but lacked a cutting edge in the final third and struggled to create clear cut chances, with Parkinson's men settling for a goalless draw with Harrogate Town in the previous outing after being well on top.

Luke Norris' early goal was the difference between the sides as Tranmere prevailed and Parkinson felt his players' decision making could have been a lot better when they got into decent positions.

"It is very frustrating," said Parkinson. "We dominated the first half in particular and one moment has cost us.

"It was a quick free-kick and we ended up one-v-one at the back and we got punished for that.

"But we still had so much play in the first-half to have got back in the game.

"The balance between playing at an intensity and speeding the game up, at times we were a bit frantic in our decision making and the clarity in those decisions in the final third wasn't where it needed to be to make the most of our dominance.

"We practically pinned them in for the whole 45 minutes but couldn't get the goal back.

"Second half, they changed their shape and we changed ours to a back-four and it became too open; the game became like they could score on the counter, and we still had some great moments where we needed to do better.

"We didn't have the control in the second half like we had in the first period, and we have got to look that."

Parkinson couldn't fault the effort of his players as defeat kept Wrexham third in the table but with fierce competition in the race for a top-three finish.

But he knows Wrexham didn't have enough efforts on target for the huge amount of opportunities they created.

"If you look around the country and the results today, and to have 25 attempts on goal, I don't think many teams would have had that but only four on target is not enough for the quality we have got," added the Reds' boss.

"We needed to work the goalkeeper more.

"We have had some great moments, as we know football is all about taking them and we weren't able to do that.

"It was very frustrating for us.

"The lads have given their all again, I don't think there is any doubt about that, but we just couldn't quite find the moment."