Ollie Rathbone celebrates scoring for Wrexham against Birmingham CityRex Features

Ollie Rathbone's father Mick used to play for Birmingham City

Aled Williams
BBC Sport Wales

Wrexham and Birmingham City played out an enthralling 1-1 draw in a top-of-the-table League One game dubbed the 'Hollywood derby'.

Ollie Rathbone's curling effort gave Wrexham an early lead only to be cancelled out by Lyndon Dykes' header nine minutes later.

Both sides were evenly matched at the Stok Racecourse and they remain as they were in the table, with Birmingham top and five points ahead of third-placed Wrexham.

The Blues extended their unbeaten run to 15 games while Wrexham have yet to lose at home this season.

The second meeting of the season between the sides - Birmingham won 3-1 in September's reverse fixture at St Andrew's - was again the subject of global media interest.

Hollywood pair Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's Wrexham were up against NFL legend Tom Brady, a minority shareholder of Birmingham City.

Although not in north Wales for the game, the three celebrity owners were no doubt watching with interest from North America and getting the sense of an electric atmosphere at a packed Racecourse.

Captain James McClean started for Wrexham despite his involvement in a car accident on his way to training the previous day.

Alfie May should have done better with a header for Birmingham during the opening minutes and the visitors had appeals for a penalty waved away after the ball hit the arm of Dan Scarr.

But Wrexham not only weathered that early storm, they went ahead with their first effort on goal.

Rathbone picked up a loose ball and after advancing forward unleashed a curled effort from outside the box to beat Ryan Allsop.

The goal heralded a good spell for the hosts, although a promising counter-attack came to nothing when George Dobson failed to find Elliot Lee.

It was now an end-to-end contest and Wrexham's lead lasted all of nine minutes before Birmingham levelled with Dykes' header from a corner coming off Dobson.

May had an effort deflected wide while Dykes tried his luck from far out as Birmingham took a grip of the game, though Wrexham goalscorer Rathbone had the final effort of the first half - a shot that sailed over the bar.

Early in the second half Christoph Klarer failed to connect from a Birmingham corner, while Allsop denied both Ryan Barnett and McClean as the action switched from end to end.

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson brought on Paul Mullin and Steven Fletcher for Lee and Ollie Palmer, looking to take full advantage of a good spell for his side.

The substitutes were immediately in the thick of the action as Fletcher's header from a free-kick was saved by Allsop, who also denied Mullin.

In a frantic finish Fletcher could not quite reach McClean's dangerous cross with a diving header, while at the other end Taylor Gardner-Hickman fired wide.

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said:

"Pleased with the performance. It was a good start from us and a great goal from Ollie. Disappointed with the goal conceded and it probably knocked us.

"But second half I thought we responded really well and our supporters have seen a lot of games like that where we've pinned teams in and we've then gone on to get the winning goal.

"But we couldn't quite find the moment.

"On the performance we probably deserved all three points but in terms of the manner of the way we've gone about our business we've got to be pleased."

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies told BBC Radio WM:

"I have mixed emotions. It was a good point and, at the end of the season, we may look back at this as being one of our most important.

"But I really liked the way were in the first half. I felt we had them where we wanted them. They scored early, just as they did in the home game against us – but we kept calm, as we did that night.

"We scored a good goal from a setpiece. And Lyndon Dykes was a real handful. He scored a great goal against Lincoln and he's now got another goal, which will do wonders for his confidence.

"In the second half we couldn't get that same level of performance. But Wrexham always finish strongly, with so many late goals, and we stood up and put out bodies on the line."

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