Wrexham were left to rue missed opportunities after Cardiff City snatched a dramatic 98th-minute equaliser to salvage a point in the Welsh derby at the Cardiff City Stadium, opening the new Championship season with a share of the spoils.
Phil Parkinson's men made the perfect start, taking the lead inside three minutes through Kieffer Moore, who capitalised early to put the visitors ahead. From that point, Wrexham looked the more threatening of the two sides throughout the contest, creating a host of chances that could have put the game beyond Cardiff's reach.
Twice Wrexham struck the woodwork as they searched for a second goal, while Cardiff's goalkeeper was called upon to make several important saves to keep his side in the match. Despite dominating large spells of the game and appearing firmly in control, Wrexham could not find the cutting edge required to make their superiority count on the scoreboard.
Just when it seemed Wrexham would hold on for a hard-earned victory, Cardiff produced a sting in the tail. In the very last action of the match, deep into stoppage time, Rubin Colwill stepped up to smash home a free-kick that flew past the Wrexham defence to level the score at 1-1, sparking wild celebrations among the home supporters and snatching a point that had looked beyond Cardiff for much of the evening.
The result left Parkinson frustrated, not only with his side's failure to convert their dominance into a bigger lead, but also with the amount of time added on at the end of the match, which ultimately proved costly for his team.
Speaking after the final whistle, Parkinson did not hide his disappointment at how the game had slipped away. "We've had chances to kill the game off. We haven't taken them, the keeper's made saves, but we haven't really made him make a top-class save," he said.
The Wrexham boss went on to stress how comfortably his side should have been able to see out the win, given the balance of play throughout the fixture. "We knew we could give Cardiff problems and time and time again we did. Really in the cold light of day, the game should have been out of sight, but it wasn't," Parkinson added.
His comments reflected the mood around the club after a match in which Wrexham had largely dictated proceedings but were ultimately punished for their inability to add to Moore's early strike. The two woodwork strikes will likely stick in the memory as symbolic of a night when fine margins denied the visitors what would have been a statement victory in front of a hostile Cardiff crowd.
For Cardiff, meanwhile, the late leveller offers a psychological boost heading into the new campaign, having been second best for much of the derby but finding a way to avoid defeat when it mattered most. Colwill's free-kick will be remembered as a crucial moment, snatched almost literally with the last kick of the game.
Both clubs will now turn their attention to building on this opening-day result as the Championship season gets underway, with Wrexham left to ponder what might have been had they taken their chances when on top, and Cardiff able to draw encouragement from their resilience in salvaging a share of the points against local rivals.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport Football.