Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson bemoans wasted opportunity in Norwich loss

Phil Blanche, Press Association

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson saw his side suffer a rare 2-1 home defeat to Norwich and blamed performance levels for the loss.

“We’ve been on a brilliant run and we’re not going to get too down about it, but I feel it was an opportunity today.

“If you look at the last 35 minutes of the first half, how well we played, that it’s an opportunity I feel we wasted.

“I think if individually and collectively the performance level drops within a game, then that’s not going to be enough to get a result.

“There’s not a lot wrong. We knew what we had to do in possession and when we did we looked a good side in that first period.

“When we went away from it and didn’t take enough care in possession, we invited Norwich to come onto us in that period.

“We’ll take that lesson together and we’ll be ready to respond to Leicester on Tuesday.”

Norwich boss Philippe Clement expressed his delight over Jovon Makama’s winner at Wrexham after telling his young striker at half-time to play better.

Makama secured a 2-1 win for the Canaries by rifling home inside the box after 58 minutes, the 21-year-old striker’s 10th Championship goal of the season adding to Anis Ben Slimane’s early opener.

“I was not so pleased about his first half, to be honest,” Clement said of Makama’s performance after Norwich had inflicted Wrexham’s first home league defeat since September 13.

“I told him also in half-time that I expected more and he produced in the second half.

“It’s really pleasing how he steps up, how he becomes better.

“I need to praise also my staff for that because they’re busy with him every game, every training about small details to make his game better. So it’s a really good collective story.”

Norwich remain in the bottom three, a point adrift of Blackburn and Portsmouth in 22nd, but their improvement since Clement replaced Liam Manning in November is undeniable.

The Canaries have won six of the Belgian’s 13 games in charge with three draws and four defeats.

Clement said: “We came here with confidence, belief, the right energy, and this is the confirmation of the training week that I saw.

“It’s a massive win, an important win. It’s a good statement also that we want to compete with the best teams in the league.

“We didn’t win the Champions League, a cup, a title or something, but the team is taking the right steps and we will guide them to become better.”

Wrexham were level by half-time through Sam Smith’s third goal in four games.

But it was an underwhelming performance from hosts who had won their four previous league games and knocked Premier League side Nottingham Forest out of the FA Cup last week.