Wrexham 1-1 Birmingham City: FLW report as spoils shared in 'Hollywood' clash | OneFootball

FLW report from the STōK Cae Ras for this 'blockbuster' clash

Wrexham and Birmingham City played out an end-to-end 1-1 draw at the STōK Cae Ras on Friday night in what has become known as the 'Hollywood' derby.

With both clubs generating global interest of late, it was a game of 'firsts' in the North Wales rain.

George Dobson opened the scoring for Phil Parkinson's men after 13 minutes, with the central midfielder scoring his first goal of the season as he turned home a neat corner routine.

Meanwhile, Patrick Roberts, who joined Blues on loan from Sunderland last month, continued his solid start to life at the club with a tidy lifted finish in the opening seconds of the second half.

A draw sees Wrexham's wait for a first home success of the season go on, whilst Chris Davies' side have seen their rather inconsistent run of late continue.

Wrexham 1-1 Birmingham City

After an electric welcome for the two sides, it was Wrexham who forced the first meaningful opportunity. However, Josh Windass was deemed offside after he sent a curling effort wide after going one-on-one with incoming Blues keeper, James Beadle.

Roberts was presented with Birmingham's first half-chance on 10 minutes, although the on-loan winger would run into Ben Sheaf after opting to cut inside rather than bend a curling strike the way of Arthur Okonkwo.

Ryan Longman would do just that for the hosts a minute later, with Marc Leonard alert to send his strike over the bar, before Beadle was at full-stretch to deny Sheaf whilst Windass saw another effort turned behind.

The Red Dragons' period of pressure would pay off from the resulting corner, as Max Cleworth's flick-on was turned home by Dobson inside the six-yard box to give Parkinson's men a 13th-minute lead.

It could have got even better for Wrexham five minutes later, although Marc Leonard would have been the most relieved man in North Wales as Beadle somehow denied the onrushing Lewis O'Brien.

After a contentious free-kick award, Okonkwo was finally forced into action on 25 minutes, with the keeper equal to Leonard's set-piece which flew through bodies. The ex-Arsenal man then smartly denied Demarai Gray his second goal in as many games following a smart passing move from Davies' outfit.

Wrexham's first chance for some time came 10 minutes before the break, with Issa Kabore captialising on Alex Cochrane's slip and finding Windass inside the box, with the forward's powerful strike well blocked by Jack Robinson. Dobson came close to doubling his tally for the season three minutes later, with Beadle initially struggling to gather a 20-yard drive.

Blues had the chance to draw level on the stroke of half-time as Gray was afforded time to bring down Tomoki Iwata's deep cross, before seeing his curling strike go wide of the mark.

However, just 20 seconds into the second period, a fired-up away side would draw level as Jay Stansfield spotted the run of Roberts, who was able to neatly slot the ball home past the onrushing Okonkwo.

Birmingham's front-footed start to the half continued six minutes later, although Lyndon Dykes couldn't add a third of the campaign from a teasing Gray delivery.

12 minutes after being pegged back, the Red Dragons saw strong appeals for a penalty dismissed by Bobby Madley as Kieffer Moore's volley deflected behind off his former Sheffield United teammate, Robinson.

The experienced centre-forward was at the forefront of another penalty appeal just after the hour mark as he fell under pressure from Blues captain, Christoph Klarer.

With Birmingham continuing to cause havoc in wide areas, Cleworth stood strong on 74 minutes to deny Kyogo Furuhashi his first league goal after a fizzing low cross from fellow substitute, Lewis Koumas.

The home crowd were left frustrated with eight minutes to go as, whilst Cochrane felt he was shoved over by Kabore, the Man City loanee burst forward and played a fizzing ball which evaded the freshly-introduced Nathan Broadhead before Moore couldn't test Beadle with his eventual strike.

Kyogo thought he'd scored his second in royal blue in the next phase of play, with the Japanese seeing his close-range strike ruled out for offside, whilst Red Dragons supporters claimed a foul on Dom Hyam in the build-up. Okonkwo would then atone for a loose free-kick by thwarting the summer signing as he looked to bundle home another Koumas ball.

Although both clubs were desperate to claim a welcome three points and 'one up' over their counterparts, a stalemate sees Wrexham end the night in 14th, whilst Blues have moved up to 11th for the time being.

FT: Wrexham 1-1 Birmingham City

Player Ratings

Wrexham

Arthur Okonkwo - 7

Max Cleworth - 7.5

Dominic Hyam - 6.5 (Scarr 88" - 6)

Callum Doyle - 7

Issa Kabore - 7 (Barnett 88" - 6)

George Dobson - 8

Ben Sheaf - 6 (James 70" - 6.5)

Ryan Longman - 7 (McClean 88" - 6)

Lewis O'Brien - 7.5

Josh Windass - 6.5 (Broadhead 70" - 6)

Kieffer Moore - 6.5

Unused Subs: Callum Burton, Lewis Brunt, George Thomason, Sam Smith

Birmingham City

James Beadle - 7

Tomoki Iwata - 6.5

Christoph Klarer - 6.5

Jack Robinson - 6.5

Alex Cochrane - 7

Marc Leonard - 6

Seung-Ho Paik - 7

Patrick Roberts - 7.5 (Koumas 71" - 6)

Jay Stansfield - 7 (Doyle 80" - 6)

Demarai Gray - 6.5 (Anderson 70" - 6)

Lyndon Dykes - 6 (Furuhashi 64" - 6)

Unused Subs: Ryan Allsop, Alfons Sampsted, Eiran Cashin, Phil Neumann, Kanya Fujimoto

Wrexham vs Birmingham City Attendance

The attendance at the STōK Cae Ras for this 'blockbuster' clash was 10,669.

This included a sold-out allocation of 1,287 Birmingham City supporters.

Phil Parkinson reacts as Wrexham draw with Birmingham City

Speaking to the press afterward, Parkinson was pleased with the overall spirit of his side to keep a recent unbeaten streak going in tough conditions.

"First half I thought we were good," he said. "I was really pleased with how we played in the first half in difficult conditions.

"I thought we pressed at the right times, got the goal and could have had another.

"I was very pleased and just frustrated, from our point of view, to concede from our kick-off," Parkinson added.

"There's a little element of misfortune with how it's ricocheted to the lad, but in the moment around the box, not going with the runner has cost us and we've been punished for it.

"A third game in six days where I thought the goal energised Birmingham and we, at times, looked flat in that second period.

"We had some good spells," Parkinson stated. "But, in the end, 1-1's probably a fair result.

When asked to expand on the desire of his players amid a gruelling schedule, the Red Dragons boss responded: "Everyone saw on Tuesday that the bench was huge for us.

"The lads have given us a lot again tonight. Obviously, we're disappointed because we've put in some really good performances over the last period of time.

"We need to turn those draws into wins, but there's a lot of teams in the Championship saying that because it's a hard league and games are really tight.

"We can say we could have done better in that moment, but I'm sure Chris is going to say they could've defended the set-play better when we scored.

"It's just about moments at both ends of the pitch, but the lads have given us a lot again tonight.

"That's a big ask to go again in such a high-profile game, and our third in six games," Parkinson concluded.

Chris Davies' verdict as Birmingham City earn draw at Wrexham

Addressing the media post-match, Davies felt his side were definitely in the ascendancy: "I think if anyone was going to win it, it would be us," he claimed. "I'd have liked to have taken three points for the way we played, and we pushed on in the second half.

"I said to the players after the game, we drew 1-1 here last season, but we didn't play as well as that. So that's promising.

"In the end, ultimately if you can't win it, don't lose it and, away from home it's never easy," Davies added.

"It's a point gained and maybe, on another day we should win it," the Blues boss stated.

When asked what inspired such a quick second-half response, he said: "My message at half-time was to ensure we stayed calm. I was angry about the goal, as you'd imagine, and I told them that.

"Outside of that, we were looking like us in the sense that, we had the ball, we had control.

"It looked like a Birmingham game, not a Wrexham game," Davies explained. "We were imposing it.

"I just said to them we could turn more, we could play forward more, and we could make more forward runs. We could be more forceful with the ball, there's more space than you think, there's gaps.

"I liked how we were set up, but we needed to be a little bit more proactive and forceful with the ball at times.