Wrexham 2-2 Watford: Oliver Rathbone secures late point for hosts in front of owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac

Wrexham rescued a 2-2 draw at home to Watford as Oliver Rathbone struck a stoppage-time equaliser in front of owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac.

Watford brushed aside Josh Windass' opener as first-half goals from Mamadou Doumbia and Othmane Maamma put the visitors on course for all three points.

But Rathbone's late intervention meant Wrexham avoided a second successive defeat.

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With the sides separated by just a point and hovering on the edge of the play-off places, both knew a win could ignite a promotion push heading into the festive period.

Wrexham were keen to respond after suffering their first league defeat in nine matches at Hull in midweek, but it was Watford who threatened early as Marc Bola's low strike flashed across the face of goal in the second minute.

The hosts struggled to create chances in the opening stages, with Max Cleworth blazing over from distance and Windass sending a free-kick wide.

Watford had a great opportunity to open the scoring in the 20th minute when Luca Kjerrumgaard's effort from the edge of the area drifted just past the post.

That miss proved costly a minute later as Windass collected a Matty James through ball and fired past Egil Selvik to put the Red Dragons ahead, much to the delight of Reynolds and Mac, whose actress wife Kaitlin Olson was also in attendance.

Their joy was short-lived, however, as Doumbia levelled nine minues later with a superb strike off the underside of the crossbar with the aid of a deflection.

Watford turned the game around three minutes before the break, Maamma reacting quickest in the box to fire home from six yards out with goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo helpless.

Wrexham almost equalised on the stroke of half-time when Callum Doyle's close-range header crashed against the crossbar from a corner.

The visitors started the second half as brightly as the first and almost increased their advantage, with Okonkwo thwarting Doumbia from close range just after the break.

At the other end, the home side went in search of an equaliser and could have pulled level in the 65th minute when Ryan Longman headed wide from just a couple of yards out following a teasing cross from James McClean.

It was then Kieffer Moore's turn to go close, but his header from the centre of the penalty box failed to trouble Selvik in the Watford goal.

Chances continued to come in the closing stages, with Windass seeing a fierce 20-yard shot pushed around the post as the away side struggled to get out of their own half.

When the home side eventually got the ball over the line, Dominic Hyam's close-range effort was ruled out for offside.

But with the visitors seemingly on course for victory, Rathbone popped up on the edge of the area to fire Wrexham level.

The managers

Wrexham's Phil Parkinson:

"I'm so pleased for the owners, who lift the whole place when they are here and I spoke to them briefly before the game.

"There is a lot of positivity in the area with the new investment being announced and we've got to keep building on that and the spirit of the team was there for all to see today.

"I'm so pleased for Ollie Rathbone. He's had to wait to get his chance but he typifies everything we want here at Wrexham. His attitude is fantastic and he deserved that moment today.

"Ollie has played Championship football before and gave us the moment of calmness that we needed.

"We'd had a lot of good play and should have scored after the first goal, as we had some really good moments.

"But it was the split second of composure that Ollie has shown time-and-time-again that got us back in the game.

"The first goal knocked us, but we came out in the second half and responded well.

"When we were chasing the game like we were late on I thought we worked our way back into the game in a very controlled way."

Watford assistant Zigor Aranalde:

"It's frustrating and the mistakes were there and the referee made a big mistake today and that has cost us.

"Everyone could see the free-kick he didn't give us which led to the second goal.

"It was a clear foul, one of the clearest I've seen this season, but the referee didn't give it and for me it's a big mistake.

"It's lucky for the referee that there is no VAR because that decision would be changed for sure. It's embarrassing what happened before Wrexham's second goal and that was the difference today.

"It's a shame, it's one point instead of three, but we've now only lost one in nine, so that is a positive."

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