Chester FC manager Steve Burr feels Wrexham's better handling of the Racecourse pitch was a telling factor in his side's 1-0 defeat on Saturday.
A bobbling and in places bare surface was not suited to Chester's usual short passing game and Burr's team struggled to produce the sort of form that had seen them talked about as potential play-off contenders a few weeks ago.
On-loan midfielder Kieron Morris scored the game's only goal in the eighth minute, giving Wrexham a first win over the Blues in five attempts.
"I thought it was a poor standard of football but Wrexham adjusted to the conditions better than we did," said Burr.
"I've lost the game and I don't want it to sound like sour grapes but you've got to fight the pitch before you can get the ball under control but as I say it's the same for them as well and they just got that break. I didn't think there was anything in the game but it was a poor, poor game.
"We didn't get a lot of space in the middle of the park, but you've got to adapt to the conditions and we didn't do that as well as Wrexham.
"Sometimes that happens and there'll be a few more surfaces like that before the end of the season where it's dry and hard, and you've got to adapt and you've got to adjust."
Chester could count themselves fortunate to go in just 1-0 down at half-time and did force Andy Coughlin into a couple of saves in the second period from Gareth Roberts and Oliver McBurnie, although Jon Worsop was the busier keeper.
Burr said: "I thought Andy made the best save of the game really. Oli got on the end of a cross and it was a terrific save.
"It was more instinct I think, it hit him rather than he saved it but it was a terrific save and he kept it out.
"I can't really remember him making another. There was a few little half-shots and we had a few efforts in the first-half but not many and they hit us on the break a couple of times through mistakes we made where Jon's made a couple of saves."
Burr admitted afterwards he wondered whether he might have been better selecting a more conservative side, possibly naming Kingsley James in midfield for more steel, but said he'd gone to win the game rather than avoid losing.
Chester now have a long trek to Torquay United on Tuesday (7.45pm) and must look to recover from back-to-back defeats.
"I can look at myself and say we picked the team that had lost to Eastleigh but before that we'd gone four on the bounce and won them all," said Burr.
"We could have come here and gone a lot stronger maybe in the middle of the park and made ourselves harder to beat but I'm not like that and I want to go and win the game.
"But sometimes I have to look at it and think well conditions aren't going to let you play and let you pass the ball like you want to, they're going to close you down, it's a local derby and there's a lot of stake.
"It's always disappointing to lose, more so when you've lost to your local rivals but obviously we've got a big game coming up now on Tuesday."
