Frustrated

Phil Parkinson bemoaned his team’s lack of ruthlessness – and the amount of stoppage time at the end of the game – after a 98th-minute equaliser denied Wrexham a Welsh derby victory at Cardiff City.

Parkinson’s side were on course to begin the new Championship campaign with a hard-fought win after Kieffer Moore’s third-minute goal at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Wrexham missed chances to extend their lead – and twice hit the woodwork – on a night when they carried greater threat than their hosts only to be denied a win when Rubin Colwill smashed in a free-kick in the last act of the game.

“We’ve had chances to kill the game off. We haven’t taken them, the keeper’s made saves, but we haven’t really made him make a top-class save,” Parkinson said.

“We knew we could give Cardiff problems and time and time again. We did and really in the cold light of day, the game should have been out of sight, but it wasn’t.”

While Parkinson suggested his side could have managed the closing minutes of the game better, there was frustration over the timing of Cardiff’s goal.

The fourth official’s board showed six minutes of added time, with George Dobson fouling Joel Colwill in the last of those minutes before Rubin Colwill seized the chance to equalise.

“I’m not quite sure where they got six minutes from – I’m looking forward to asking [the officials about] that,” Parkinson said.

“However, giving cheap free-kicks away at this level, you can get punished and that’s what cost us tonight.

“All we had to do was stay calm in that moment and we’d be talking about three points.”

After their Europa League qualifying loss in Poland, McInnes called on his side to “be far more stingy with our work, defend the goal with our lives, don’t give our opponent opportunities” and criticised the squad for showing the same worrying characteristics that were the club’s ruin last season.

His side showed little sign of turning this around in the short space of time since their European trip.

Against Hibs on Sunday afternoon, his third different back four of the season struggled to hold their shape and summer signing Vanja Dragojevic soon grappled Josh Kerr to the ground for a penalty as the errors continued.

These faults, coupled with a lack of consistency in playing partners, is compounding the misery.

Their draw with Dundee United started with a back-line comprising of Ben Godfrey, Dujon Sterling, Emmanuel Fernandez and Tuur Rommens.

Away in Poland, it was Ross McCrorie, Sterling, Emmanuel Fernandez and Rommens.

When David Gray’s team came to town it was Dragojevic, Olwethu Makhanya, Fernandez and Rommens.

These issues need to be ironed out quickly by the coaching staff as their Europa League qualification hangs in the balance prior to Thursday’s second leg against Jagiellonia Bialystok.

McInnes thought the defeat by Hibs was “really harsh on us” as “we were the better team” and “deserved far better than we got” in a game in which Hibs took the lead through a penalty he disputed.

“It’s damaging in the sense that we came here to win and we expect to win,” he said.

“What we’ve got to do now is just dust ourselves down because that was a blow for us.

“The response of the team in the latter part of the game was terrific.”

Their selection inconsistency is mirrored in their form on the park too.

Allan added: “Performing consistently is what [brings] results and winning silverware, and I know its very early on, but there is no consistency in how Rangers were playing today.”