Max Cleworth rescues Wrexham! Defender grabs dramatic late equaliser to continue unbeaten run for Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac’s side
Wrexham began the afternoon with confidence and control, stroking the ball around with composure and keeping Blackburn penned in for much of the first 10 minutes. But that early promise counted for little as the visitors struck with their very first meaningful attack to take a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute. A quick move down the right opened Wrexham up. Ryoya Morishita found space to thread a pass into Ryan Alebiosu, who had been given far too much room to measure his delivery. The winger floated a teasing cross into the box, where Gudjohnsen rose above his marker to guide a looping header beyond Arthur Okonkwo. The goal stunned the home crowd after what had been a positive Wrexham start. Blackburn almost doubled their advantage moments later when Alebiosu again surged forward. His clipped cross found Yuki Ohashi arriving at the back post, but the Japanese forward miscued his volley badly and dragged it wide.
Despite falling behind, Wrexham recovered their structure and continued to probe. Their best moment of the half came from a move down the right when Ryan Longman sent in a precise delivery toward the far post. Captain James McClean met it cleanly with a firm header, only to crash it into the side-netting. But aside from that scare, Blackburn defended with discipline, shutting down space in midfield and forcing Wrexham to play in front of them rather than through them. As the interval approached, the visitors increasingly slowed the tempo, happy to protect their single-goal advantage. By half-time, Phil Parkinson’s men were left frustrated, trailing 1-0 and struggling to turn possession into genuine chances.
The second half began with Blackburn carrying the greater threat. Wrexham’s attempt to build momentum was abruptly interrupted at 57 minutes when a loose pass was intercepted high up the pitch. Ohashi darted into the penalty area, chopped onto his right foot, and forced Okonkwo into a strong save at his near post. Gudjohnsen, sniffing his second of the afternoon, pounced on the rebound but blazed over from close range. It was a massive let-off that kept Wrexham alive. Sensing the game slipping away, Parkinson made a bold triple substitution just before the hour mark. Josh Windass, George Dobson and Callum Doyle were all introduced in place of Lewis O’Brien, Ben Sheaf and Dan Scarr. However, the substitutes struggled to make an impact, and instead Makhtar Gueye could have scored the insurance goal for Blackburn after his cross took a wicked deflection and almost trickled into the near post.
In the final quarter, the hosts, backed by a roaring home crowd, found a spring in their step. Blackburn were living dangerously, and Kiefer Moore, who had been an anonymous figure for most of the afternoon, came close to equalising in the 84th minute. The referee added five minutes, and from a set-piece, Wrexham finally found the leveller in the 95th minute. Dobson delivered a teasing cross into the box, which was headed back into the danger zone by Moore. The loose ball fell kindly for Broadhead, who unleashed a powerful volley towards goal. The shot took a deflection off Cleworth and nestled into the net to bring down the roof at the Racecourse. Following the draw, Wrexham climbed to the ninth spot with 26 points from 18 matches and will be back in action against Preston on December 6.
