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Wrexham climbed off the bottom of the table with an emphatic win over promotion chasing Darlington. Despite the difference in league position between the clubs, there was no doubting which the better team was as our revival under Brian Little continued.

With Carl Tremarco out injured and Richard Hope absent suspended, young defenders Mike Williams and Neil Taylor came into the side. Phil Bolland replaced Shaun Pejic.

Ryan Valentine was part of the Darlington line-up having only left Wrexham to return to his old club a few weeks ago.

The game took a while to get going with both sides creating a few slight chances and shots on goal. It sprang into life on 20 minutes when, from an excellent Danny Sonner corner, Steve Evans powered home a header into the back of the net to put us 1-0 up. It’s the sort of goal you’d expect to see Evans score more often. Now that we have better delivery from set-pieces, he may well do.

Shortly after Nicholson nodded wide from a Sonner free-kick, and the same man again created another header for Broughton, also just wide.

Despite the presence of Julian Joachim and Kevin Gall, Darlington weren’t too threatening. Any opening they might have had was likely to have come from a Wrexham mistake at the back such as a mix-up between Evans and Ward shortly before half-time.

We entered the break deservedly in the lead but Darlington pressurised us at the beginning of the second-half. Bad challenges from Ravenhill and Cummins on Roberts and Sonner wound up the home crowd, and seemed to lift the Wrexham players.

 Darlington continued to press and make changes but we grew back into the game through our hard-working midfield partnership Sonner and Roberts. Neil’s combative presence allows Sonner the time and space to put his foot on the ball, slow things down and start moves.

When Simon Spender was bundled over in the area by Gall there were shouts for a penalty waved away by the referee, and soon after Broughton had similar appeals ignored by the ref as he appeared to have been pushed.

The game opened up end to end as encouragingly we sought to go forward and not sit back. Nicholson was replaced by Michael Proctor who immediately had chances. One was a header from Llewellyn’s cross, and the other a comfortable save for their goalkeeper when he perhaps could have done better.

We had one last real scare ten minutes from time when with Ward stranded, Neil Taylor made a crucial block as Darlington’s forwards looked certain to capitalise and score. Jeff Whitley then replaced Sonner who deservedly received a standing ovation and the ‘Man of the Match’ accolade.

Seconds later Proctor was put through on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat. He sealed the game with a cool finish that left Darlington with no way back. On-loan Oxford striker Rob Duffy replaced Broughton for the final few minutes for his Wrexham debut, and Wrexham fans could relax and bask in our victory.

During stoppage time it was sinking in that for the second time in the space of a few weeks we’d more than matched a top League 2 side, and taken the three points at home. After our abysmal home form last year the Racecourse is becoming a fortress once again, with teams perhaps not looking forward to their visits here from now on.

The final whistle confirmed another precious hard-earned three points in our battle against relegation. Four games unbeaten now with victories over MK Dons and Darlington is impressive form, and would have been unimaginable three weeks ago.

We have a run of tough away fixtures coming up but we have confidence, momentum and quality in the side.

Our last few results have shown that anything is possible…

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Wrexham escaped from Morecambe with a point from a game that they should, and usually would have lost. Our mini-unbeaten run now stretches to three games which is a sign of encouragement. Less encouraging though was the performance in this game.

The only change to the side from the Bradford game was the inclusion of Shaun Pejic at the expense of Phil Bolland who was on the bench. Our defence seemed to lose its composure in Bolland’s absence, particularly when defending set-pieces.

We got off to a dreadful start which set the tone of the night at the back. The Wrexham defence failed to deal with crosses from Carl Baker which inevitably led to us conceding a sloppy goal, Wayne Curtis scoring from close-range.

That goal came after only seven minutes and encouraged the home side to put us under pressure for a spell until we gradually got into the game and made chances. A Sonner corner led to a scramble inside the area but Nicholson couldn’t provide the finish.

After half an hour we were given a golden opportunity to equalise. Nicholson was denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity in the area by a Danny Adams foul. Danny Sonner stepped up to send the goalkeeper the wrong way to score his first goal for the club.

Wrexham were caught napping defensively straight after, luckily escaping when Richard Thompson was through one-on-one with Gavin Ward but fired into the side of the net.

At the other end Chris Llewellyn drove a shot against the post which fell to Broughton. Only six yards out he should have scored but the goalkeeper Shwan Jalal made a terrific save. Already down from the Llewellyn shot he quickly made it to the other side of the goal to keep out Broughton’s attempt.

We finished the half the stronger and with improvement in the second-half thoughts could turn to winning the game. Sonner was replaced at half-time by Jeff Whitley and just minutes into the second-half an injured Carl Tremarco had to be replaced by Neil Taylor.

Unfortunately we started poorly again and were punished from a set-piece. From a corner our defence went to sleep again, before Neil Roberts inadvertently turned the ball into his own net for an own goal which put the home side back in front.

Despite the change of Proctor on for Spender we didn’t look like getting back into the game. Morecambe had better chances and were the stronger side. Ward was forced to make good saves, and Pejic a last ditch clearance as our defence looked decidedly shaky.

With just over ten minutes to go we were given a lifeline we didn’t deserve. The referee awarded us a penalty for what looked like a foul on Llewellyn. It seemed a harsh decision but Wrexham fans didn’t care as Proctor levelled from the spot.

Stung by that decision Morecambe pushed on and as they went close it seemed our fragile defence would go back to old habits and inevitably concede a late goal. They didn’t, but Richard Hope was shown a red card for the idiotic offence of needless persistent fouling in the final minutes. Perhaps his dismissal was for the best as the free-kicks he was giving away were in dangerous positions causing us a very nervy finish to the game.

We may have fallen further behind the other strugglers at the bottom of the table, but can take consolation that with the help of a generous referee we gained a point we shouldn’t have.

Despite the performance that’s a creditable result at a play-off chasing team, something we wouldn’t have managed just weeks ago.

Hopefully a better effort at home to a strong Darlington side in Saturday’s early kick-off will see us continue our improvement in results, if not performances. 

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