Wrexham were forced to settle for a point from their clash with League One leaders Birmingham City on Thursday in a fixture dubbed the “Hollywood derby” because of the influence of Rob McElhenney, Ryan Reynolds and Tom Brady over the respective teams.
The result leaves Birmingham three points clear of Wycombe Wanderers at the top of the League One table, while Wrexham remain third, five points behind Brady’s side.
The match was broadcast across the United States and “immersive reality” domes in Los Angeles and Dallas offered viewing for nearly 3,000 fans. The Los Angeles event was used as a fundraiser for victims of the city’s wildfires.
“We were disappointed with the goal we conceded but we went out for the second half and played with real momentum,” Wrexham midfielder George Dobson told Sky Sports
“There are lots of positives to take for us, and we know if we play like that for the rest of the season, we’ll be there or thereabouts [for promotion]. We went toe-to-toe with them. We knew it was going to be a challenging game. If we can perform like this away from home, we won’t be far away.”
Despite the absence of their famous owners in the stands, Wrexham got their noses in front through a pinpoint strike from midfielder Oliver Rathbone. There was a question of a foul in the buildup on Birmingham’s Taylor Gardner-Hickman, but Rathbone took full advantages with a fine curling effort from range.
The visitors restored parity nine minutes later when Lyndon Dykes‘ header at the back post took a fortunate deflection off Dobson and trickled over the line.
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Dykes’ goal seemed to suck the life out of the ground as the usually raucous home crowd settled back into their seats for the long haul at the STōK Cae Ras.
With clear chances also at a premium in the second half, Birmingham head coach Chris Davies introduced Keshi Anderson in the 66th minute as he searched for fresh attacking impetus.
Anderson almost provided an instant impact when his dash down the wing and low ball across goal presented teammate Alfie May a gilt-edged chance in front of goal, but the Birmingham forward failed to make contact with the ball as it flashed across the edge of the 6-yard box.
The introduction of Paul Mullin and Steven Fletcher seemed to galvanise Wrexham, and they almost found a late winner when Fletcher forced Ryan Allsop into a smart save with a carefully guided header in the 79th minute.
Fletcher’s chance was quickly followed by another opening when a Wrexham corner flashed across goal, forcing Allsop into another vital intervention with several players in close vicinity inside his area.
In the end, a grandstand finish never quite materialised as Birmingham held on for a hard-earned point that also stretched Wrexham’s unbeaten run at home to 19 matches this season.
“I thought we started really well with a fantastic goal from Ollie [Rathbone],” Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson told Sky Sports. “It’s always disappointing to concede and it knocked us a bit, but I thought we responded terrifically well in the second half.
“We’ve had a lot of games like that where we pin teams in and the ball goes in, but it didn’t quite fall for us tonight. In terms of what we asked from the lads in terms of desire, energy, commitment — we got all that. But also that intelligence in when we press.
“We improved from the first game we played against [Birmingham], and we deserved the win in the end. We had them on the rack.”
Information from Reuters contributed to this report
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