DERBY day delight for Wrexham left local rivals Chester City cursing their luck in general and referee Uriah Rennie in particular following a highly-charged contest at the Saunders Honda stadium yesterday.
And it has to be said the Premiership man-in-the-middle did little to enhance his reputation during what was always going to be a fiercely-competitive clash in which no quarter was asked or given by the players of either side.
The Sheffield official controversially gave Wrexham goalkeeper Mike Ingham the benefit of the doubt midway through the first half when the Northern Ireland international appeared to handle the ball outside his area and then instantly dismissed City midfielder Ricky Ravenhill for his rash follow-through on the keeper, even though there was some doubt about any contact between the two combatants.
The incident undoubtedly changed the course of the game, which, to that point, had seen the home team marginally the better of the two. Ravenhill and Roberto Martinez were running the show and delivering excellent service to front-runners Jon Walters and Gregg Blundell, whose movement was testing Wrexham's back-line to the limit.
It was a turning point forcibly reinforced by City manager Mark Wright who emerged from a lengthy post-match conversation with the match officials to deliver a scathing indictment of their interpretation of events and also to imply that Ingham had exaggerated the seriousness of the incident.
"The reality is - and I've seen the video so I know what I'm talking about - the keeper was a yard and-a-half outside his box," he said.
"He chested the ball down, why else would he have done it with a man bearing down on him from five yards?
"He chested it down because he was outside the box. He then stepped back into the area and pulled the ball into his body.
"I can't condone what Ricky did in going for the ball, but he didn't make any contact whatever.
"He didn't catch the keeper who denied us a goal-scoring opportunity and should have been sent off.
"The ref got it way wrong and it was a decision that changed the game. We were comfortable to that point and looking in control.
"I'd like to think the keeper wouldn't have made a meal of it, but looking at the video, I think that's what did happen.
"But it didn't appear there was any contact and it looked worse than it was. I know referees and linesmen make mistakes, but it's their job and if we do something wrong we get punished.
"It was unfair and then they scored a penalty, but I always felt we had something in our locker to come back into it as we did.
"It's just really disappointing when an incident like that happens."
What Wright made of Rennie's second major misjudgement can only be conjecture because he wasn't asked the question, but it came three minutes before the break when Wrexham winger Matty Done was brought down in the penalty area by Stephen Vaughan's tackle from behind as he prepared to shoot.
Quite why the referee failed to show the City skipper a card of either colour for denying the youngster a goalscoring opportunity is a mystery, although Dragons' captain Neil Roberts made the home side pay for the clumsy challenge by converting the penalty with consummate ease.
It was the striker's first goal since returning to his hometown club during the summer and clearly meant alot, with Roberts running 70 yards to share his celebration with family and friends seated at the far end of the stadium.
"It meant a lot to win this one," he said afterwards. "It's important for the team, because we've now gone four games un-beaten in what were difficult fixtures.
"I was over the moon because it was my first goal back at the club in such an important game. We said in the dressing room beforehand we had to stand up and be counted.
"On top of that we had some great support from our fans today and we owed them something.
"I thought probably for 70% of the game we handled it well until they brought a big lad on near the end and put us under a bit of pressure, but for the majority of the game I thought we dominated."
Roberts was one of six Wrexham-born players in a starting line-up that included nine Welshmen and they had to dig in from the kick-off as Chester forced two corners in the first minute.
But the first decent chance came at the other end in the 12th minute when Steve Evans headed Done's corner into the side-netting.
Ryan Valentine, who has been outstanding thus far, made atimely clearance to deny Blundell after an Evans defensive header struck Walters, the former Racecourse man making light of the constant barracking from visiting fans, but his non-stop work ethic was somewhat blunted following Ravenhill's departure.
Blundell was redeployed into midfield following the dismissal and Wrexham began to impose themselves on the game.
Danny Williams thumped a long-range effort well wide before Mark Jones went much close with a40th-minute volley from Done's centre and the Roberts spot-kick three minutes before the break put the visitors well on top.
But City were anything but cowed and ex-Wrexham loan signing Paul Linwood should have done better when meeting aMartinez free-kick five minutes after the restart, a chance followed swiftly by Laurence Wilson's turn and shot that forced Ingham into his first save of any note.
To rub salt into City's wounds, Wrexham doubled their lead almost immediately, a long clearance from Evans catching City's back-line off guard to give Mark Jones the easiest of tasks to lob over keeper Jon Danby.
That should have been game, set and match to the Dragons, but they eased off and could have been punished by David Artell, Walters and Blundell, despite their numerical advantage.
And alarm bell began ringing when Evans received asecond yellow card with 13 minutes remaining to even up the numbers.
City needed just four of them to pull a goal back, Jamie Hand drilling alow shot past Ingham from 20 yards, and it was nail-biting time for the visiting supporters and the Wrexham bench, never more so than when Linwood was given a free pop at goal, following Ingham's mis-take.
But the ever dependable Danny Williams was in the right place to block and secure the victory which may well long be remembered for the actions of a referee rather than the actual action
Mand of the Match: Danny Williams - Held things together in the absence of Darren Ferguson
Magic Moment: Jones' delightful finish for the second goal showed his class
