Wrexham's Frustrating Draw at Cardiff City Stadium

Phil Parkinson left the Cardiff City Stadium fuming at his side’s lack of ruthlessness – and at the length of stoppage time – after a 98th-minute equaliser snatched a Welsh derby victory away from Wrexham.

For almost the entire night, it looked like the perfect start to their Championship campaign. Kieffer Moore struck in just the third minute, silencing the home crowd and giving Wrexham the ideal platform in hostile territory.

From there, they had Cardiff City where they wanted them.

Wrexham carved out chances, real chances, the kind that usually bury a game long before the board for added time goes up. They hit the woodwork twice, stretched the home defence and carried the greater attacking threat throughout, but never found the second goal that would have broken Cardiff’s resistance.

The pressure should have told. Instead, it left the door open.

Deep into stoppage time, with the final whistle seconds away, Rubin Colwill stepped up over a free-kick and thumped it in, the last act of a frantic finish that turned three points into one and left the away end stunned.

Parkinson did not hide his frustration.

"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, underlining exactly where he felt the game slipped away.

"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."

A night that promised a statement win instead delivered a harsh reminder: in the Championship, you finish teams off or you get punished, sometimes with the very last kick.