By Dominic Bowen
A late blunder by Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Oknokwo allowed striker Adam Idah to settle the Championship’s Welsh derby in Swansea City’s favour.
Oknokwo spilled the ball inexplicably into Idah’s path with just injury time left to play to gift-wrap the home side all three points.
It left Phil Parkinson’s Wrexham stunned after they had led for a large portion of the game through an own goal by luckless Swans defender Cameron Burgess in the 14th minute.
Zan Vipotnik’s second half equaliser was no more than Swansea deserved, but the game seemed to be heading for a draw – before Oknokwo had other ideas.
This was the first Welsh derby between these two sides since March 2003, when they fought out a 0-0 stalemate at the Vetch Field.
Swansea head coach Vítor Matos made two changes, with Liam Cullen and Ji-Sung Eom dropping to the bench as Melker Widell and Zeidane Inoussa started.
The encounter lacked quality at times, and Burgess’ mishap to hand Wrexham the lead typified the general pattern.
Wrexham midfielder George Thomason was booked soon after for kicking the ball away following a James McClean offside, while Swansea’s Marko Stamenic also received a yellow card for a heavy challenge on Thomason.
Swansea felt they should have had a penalty when Ronald went down in the box, but referee Oliver Langford waved away the appeals.
The Swans began to apply pressure, with Widell forcing Okonkwo into a save from distance and Burgess going close from a Josh Tymon corner. McClean was later booked for a foul on Inoussa, while Tymon’s low effort was comfortably collected by Okonkwo.
At half-time, Burgess’ own goal separated the sides, although Swansea had grown into the game and created several chances.
Swansea started the second half brightly, though Ethan Galbraith had to clear a Thomason chip off the line to deny Wrexham a second.
Swansea’s pressure was rewarded when Vipotnik finished from close range after a low cross from Ronald caused problems.
The Swans pushed for a winner, with Liam Cullen firing wide after another dangerous Ronald delivery and Eom shooting narrowly over.
Idah’s intervention settled things and Swansea saw out the closing stages to secure a dramatic comeback victory.