Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson laments Wrexham mistakes after Southampton thumping

Phil Parkinson rued Wrexham’s mistakes as they were soundly beaten 5-1 by Southampton in the Championship and dropped out of the play-off places.

Southampton – high off their FA Cup quarter-final upset against Arsenal at the weekend – leapfrogged Wrexham into sixth and now sit two points above their opponents.

The Saints dominated from the outset, with Kuryu Matsuki and Flynn Downes netting in the first 22 minutes to put them in control.

Though Josh Windass pulled one back for the hosts 11 minutes before the break, Southampton restored their two-goal cushion when Cyle Larin pounced on a loose pass just past the hour mark.

Ross Stewart and Finn Azaz then scored a quickfire double in the final 10 minutes to put the result beyond doubt, giving Southampton a huge boost in the play-off race.

Wrexham struggled to get going as they suffered their heaviest defeat of the campaign, and Parkinson was left to regret their sloppiness.

“We haven’t had many games like that since I’ve been here,” he said.

“You can’t give a good team opportunities like we gave them tonight. They’re a good side, and they punished us.”

Southampton ran riot at Stok Cae Ras, having 16 shots worth 2.6 expected goals (xG), and hitting the target with nine of them, while also hitting the woodwork three times.

They are now unbeaten in their last 13 league games, and with a game in hand on the other teams currently in the play-off places, are in a good position to try and earn promotion straight back to the top-flight.

“I think it helped us a lot that we had some freshness in the team,” head coach Tonda Eckert said after making six changes from their FA Cup win.

“We knew that we needed to take control early on, and we did this, especially in the first 20-25 minutes.

“Overall, I thought we had good control. We knew that if we stayed and worked in our structure, we would get some moments in the second half, and I thought we did that well.”