'It's a bit of a reality check!' - Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson blames ...

WHAT HAPPENED? Parkinson was asked whether Wrexham's USA tour impacted the team's performance in their first game of the season against newly-relegated MK Dons. His response was telling, as he put Wrexham's failure to produce in the match down to "mitigating circumstances".

WHAT THEY SAID: "We've come into the game without 90 minutes of football under our belts," Parkinson told BBC Radio Wales. "The thunderstorm in Philadelphia, we can't really legislate for that. We were hoping that the adrenaline of the day would lift us physically, but we looked like a team that needed a game. There were a lot of strange decisions made today which when you're in a good rhythm as a team individually and collectively don't happen. I don't want to get too down about it... the gap between the two teams isn't what you saw today. We'd love to have won the game, it was an important occasion for the club and it's been rare on the big occasions we don't produce, but I think there were some mitigating circumstances that contributed to that."

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Ultimately, while the defeat at the Racecourse Ground has taken the wind out of Wrexham's sails, it's just one loss at the start of what will be a long campaign. And it looks as though the club will be making efforts to steer things in a positive direction with the addition some new players.

Parkinson added: "We'd like to add a couple more players and we're working towards that. Even if we don't get those in, we've got enough in this building to perform better than we did today."

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WHAT NEXT FOR WREXHAM? The Red Dragons will be straight back on the training ground in preparation for their next fixture, an EFL Cup first round match against Wigan Athletic on Tuesday 8 August. It will be the club's first taste of League Cup football in 15 years.