IF Wrexham ever harboured any doubts about their ability to compete on equal terms in the Second Division this season, they comprehensively banished them in yesterday's five-goal thriller at Hillsborough.

The once-mighty Sheffield Wednesday gave the Dragons a bit of a mauling in the opening 30 minutes but Denis Smith's side displayed plenty of resilience and put in a superb second-half performance to extend their unbeaten run to 18 matches.

Magnificent individual goals from Chris Llewellyn - his first since arriving at the Racecourse in the summer - and Carlos Edwards helped them on their way.

The visitors were unchanged from the starting line-up in Saturday's 1-0 win against Brentford but Wednesday boss Chris Turner made one change, preferring Grant Holt up front in place of Lloyd Owusu, who stepped down to the subs' bench after the Owls' success at Peterborough where Finnish international Shefki Kuqi scored the only goal of the game.

On the biggest stage they will visit in the league this season, Wrexham were found wanting as early as the second minute when they conceded their first goal in seven matches.

And goalkeeper Andy Dibble, who on Saturday equalled a club record of six successive clean sheets, must accept some responsibility because he was too far off his line when Paul McLaren headed down for Alan Quinn to score from outside the penalty area with a dipping shot.

Wednesday, though, have not made as good a defensive start to the season as they would have liked and it needed a solid block by former Racecourse loan signing Terry Cooke to prevent Steve Thomas from testing goalkeeper Ola Tidman after 10 minutes.

And the goalmouth incidents continued to come thick and fast, Kuqi missing a great chance from Derek Geary's cross before the home keeper went down well to clutch a Hector Sam shot before quarter-of-an-hour had elapsed.

And the Trinidad international was denied an equaliser in the 23rd minute when Tidman failed to gather Darren Ferguson's corner under pressure from Dennis Lawrence. The ball fell kindly for Sam but his lob was headed away from under the crossbar by Holt.

The Wednesday striker then resumed his normal duties and stuck the ball past Dibble from Cooke's free-kick in the 28th minute, only to have his effort disallowed for a foul in a crowded penalty area before Kuqi saw a shot blocked at the expense of a corner.

Wrexham were struggling to cope with the strength and pace of the home side's two front men and Holt muscled himself another opportunity, his shot flashing dangerously across the face of the goal.

Minutes later Kuqi got the better of Shaun Pejic but Dibble spread himself well to prevent what would surely have been the final nail in Wrexham's coffin, even at such an early stage of the game, as the visitors were forced to defend desperately.

Six minutes before the break, though, the visitors were back on terms, thanks once again to Lawrence, who had scored Saturday's winner. In an almost carbon-copy re-run, he went forward to meet Ferguson's corner and his downward header found the net.

Two minutes later, Wrexham might have been in front when Sam fed Thomas, whose shot was well-blocked by Tidman, but Llewellyn was unable to keep his effort on target from the rebound.

The home side squandered a decent chance a minute after the re-start when Lawrence brought down Holt on the edge of the penalty area, but McLaren ballooned his free-kick into the Hillsborough Kop. And Wrexham took full advantage by snatching an unlikely lead in the 53rd minute, through Llewellyn. And what a goal it was, the former Norwich striker breaking from half-way before linking with Paul Edwards and taking the return pass to curl a superb shot beyond Tidman from 20 yards.

It was Wednesday's turn to look unsteady as they conceded two corners in quick succession but Tidman was well-placed to hold Llewellyn's close-range header and play switched quickly to the other end where Dibble produced an excellent save to once again foil Kuqi.

It was end-to-end stuff now and Ferguson picked out Sam, who fed Llewellyn for a hurried right-footed effort that was deflected for a corner.

And Wrexham went further ahead in the 64th minute thanks to a fine solo goal from Carlos Edwards, who cut in from the right to drive the ball low into the bottom corner of the net.

Rarely could there have been such a transformation in the space of a few short minutes as the visitors rediscovered their confidence and composure, knocking the ball around with an almost arrogant ease and forcing their opponents to dig deep.

Not that Wrexham could afford to be complacent as Quinn proved, skating past Paul Edwards to deliver a cross to the near post for substitute Lloyd Owusu, whose header flew the wrong side of the upright.

And Wednesday fought their way back into contention 11 minutes from the end of a pulsating contest when Quinn's cross was punched away by Dibble for substitute Paul Smith, whose toe-poked effort struck a post and went in off the unfortunate Brian Carey.

It was Wrexham's turn to have their backs to the wall again as Dibble went down at Kuqi's feet and Carey cut out a dangerous centre at the expense of yet another corner.

But they hung on for a narrowlydeserved second away win of the new campaign, much to the delight of nearly 2,000 travelling supporters.

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY: Tidman; Barry-Murphy, Lee, Smith; Geary (Smith 65), Quinn, McLaren, Cooke, Evans (Owusu 65); Holt, Kuqi. Subs: Pressman, Haslam, Wood.

WREXHAM: Dibble; Pejic, Carey, Lawrence; C Edwards, Thomas, Ferguson, Barrett, P Edwards (Holmes 73); Llewellyn, Sam (M Jones 90). Subs: Whitfield, Morgan, Crowell.

REFEREE: Fraser Stretton (Notts)

ATT: 24,478