PHIL Parkinson insisted his Altrincham players had passed another test after a full-strength Wrexham side ended their three-match winning run at The J.Davidson Stadium on Tuesday night.

Attacking flair has been to the fore in Alty's recent pre-season games, with wins against Kidsgrove, Chester and Rhyl yielding no fewer than 10 goals.

But it was their powers of resilience that came under the spotlight against National League promotion candidates Wrexham, and no one presented the case for the defence more impressively than Ben Harrison.

Signed from Nantwich earlier this summer, the towering centre-back marshalled Alty's back line superbly, and left manager Parkinson pleased.

He said: "Ben is absolute quality, and we are very lucky to have him, because he shouldn't be playing at this level.

"He should be playing much higher, in my opinion, but he's contracted to the club, so is securely tied down, and I'm extremely pleased about that.

"He is everything I'm all about. He's a really honest lad, someone who gets on with things and can take criticism in a constructive way.

"He is such a good player, and he will score goals as a defender, so it's really good to see him pulling on the red and white shirt.

"We were undone by some quick interplay from a very sharp Wrexham team, but I was particularly pleased with our defenders and the way they competed physically in the air and generally coped with the challenge."

Meanwhile, centre-back Sam Heathcote has left the club after a heart-to-heart with Parkinson over his future.

"Sam wants to play and be starting week-in, week-out, so he made the decision to leave the club to make sure he could progress himself and further himself in the game, and full credit to him," explained Parkinson.

"He will be a very, very good defender in the future, but I can't say hand on heart he is going to play every week at this moment in time, so it was a decision he made based on the facts I gave him."