Rochdale 2 Wrexham 2

WREXHAM manager Denis Smith was less than impressed with the generosity shown by his team at Spotland yesterday where they squandered a rare opportunity to secure a victory on their travels.

After an eminently forgettable opening 45 minutes, striker Lee McEvilly came off the Dragons bench to score the opening goal with virtually his first meaningful touch against his former club.

And within 10 minutes the Northern Ireland international had set up team-mate Chris Llewellyn for a second.

But instead of closing out the game Wrexham allowed the home side to claw one back inside eight minutes, then conceded an equaliser with 11 minutes to go and were fortunate in the end to come away with the point that extended their unbeaten run to three matches.

While it was easy to understand why the Racecourse boss was not full of the joys of Christmas, his opposite number Keith Hill must have been delighted by the spirit shown by his players to claw their way back from the brink of a second successive holiday defeat.

And no one in the sparse crowd could have any complaints about the action packed second half, which made a mockery of what had gone before.

For all their possession and movement, Rochdale posed very little threat to the Dragons’ back line, whose weakest link surprisingly was goalkeeper Mike Ingham.

Flattened by an early challenge from Glen Murray, the Northern Ireland international thereafter looked anxious and unsure and he was fortunate not to be punished 20 minutes in when he completely misjudged a high, looping cross delivered by Gary Jones, which curled just wide of the goal.

It was hardly the best message to send to the defenders in front of him, although Shaun Pejic, back in action after missing Saturday’s match through injury, had an excellent first half that included a couple of crucial block tackles in the six-yard box.

For their part, the Dragons did not test Rochdale keeper Matthew Gilks until 26 minutes had gone.

Top scorer Llewellyn’s weakly struck effort caused no problems at all and the visitors’ best opening of the half was created by defender Ryan Valentine, who surged forward from halfway to drive a shot just wide of the target.

Despite Ingham’s uneasy judgment, his reactions remained razor-sharp, as he demonstrated two minutes after the break, going down smartly to get a hand to Murray’s close-range header with Mike Williams completing the clearance.

And from the subsequent goal kick, Llewllyn flicked on and McEvilly – an interval replacement for teenager Marc Williams – confidently fired the 47th minute opening goal from 20 yards.

Eight minutes later a stunned Rochdale found themselves further behind as Danny Williams helped on a Darren Ferguson free kick to McEvilly.

His shot bounced wickedly in front of Gilks, who managed to parry the ball, but only as far as Llewellyn, who hooked it into an unguarded net.

A sizeable army of visiting fans began the party celebrations – prematurely as it turned out.

The home side, with Murray leading the line pugnaciously and midfielder Gary Jones providing most of the bullets, literally muscled their way back into the game.

They were given a major boost when Ingham came a long way off his line but was beaten to a Jones cross by the striker, who glanced the ball into the net.

Suddenly Wrexham looked vulnerable and their opponents went for the throat, lumping the ball forward at every opportunity where Murray and substitute Joe Thompson pulled their markers around to create space for the likes of Chris Dagnall – who went close on a couple of occasions – and Jones to exploit.

And it was Dagnall’s close-range effort, eventually scrambled away at the expense of a corner that produced the equaliser on 79 minutes.

Alan Goodall’s corner was met by Thompson, whose powerful header hit the underside of the crossbar and in the ensuing melee John Doolan was credited with the final touch.

In an effort at damage limitation, the Wrexham boss sent on Matt Crowell in place of Josh Johnson, but his team were under the cosh fore the remainder of the game.

However Ingham atoned for his earlier errors with a magnificent reaction save in the final minute to deny Murray what would have been a deserved double.