Late Moore goal sees Wrexham beat Preston

Kieffer Moore continued his eye for goal after scoring twice in Wrexham's Championship draw with Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday

Kieffer Moore's last-gasp winner saw Wrexham book their place in the third round of the EFL Cup by beating Championship rivals Preston North End in an entertaining affair at Deepdale.

Preston's Lewis Dobbin and Liam Lindsay netted either side of Ryan Hardie's stunning strike for the visitors in the opening half, but 19-year-old Harry Ashfield's second goal for Wrexham looked set to send the tie to a penalty shootout.

But North End goalkeeper Jack Walton fumbled Ryan Barnett's cross in the second minute of added time - with substitute Moore prodding home his third Wrexham goal to send his side into round three for the first time since the 1981-82 season.

Both sides made wholesale changes following their early season league endeavours - with only Andrew Hughes, Pol Valentin and Alfie Devine retaining their places from North End's 1-0 victory over Ipswich Town.

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson named an entirely different 11 from Saturday's 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday, as Callum Doyle was handed a first start since joining from Manchester City.

The hosts made a dream start as, moments after Theo Carroll fired over from just inside the box, Aston Villa loanee Dobbin curled into the top corner from 15 yards out just seven minutes into his debut.

The Welsh side hit back in sublime style four minutes later, as summer signing Hardie's curling effort looped over the helpless Walton as the striker got his Wrexham account up and running.

Both sides had penalty claims waved away by referee Adam Herczeg in quick succession, before Valentin blasted straight at Arthur Okonkwo to continue what was a frenetic start in Lancashire.

With Preston growing in confidence, Paul Heckingbottom's men regained the lead when captain Lindsay rose to head Devine's corner into the net from close range.

They were unfortunate not to be further ahead at the break after Devine's deflected free-kick flew just over, while Daniel Jebbison's chipped effort struck the post.

Wrexham improved after the restart and were level just before the hour mark as Ashfield's deflected shot beat Walton in front of the 2,500 travelling supporters.

With change being a major theme of the night, Heckingbottom sent on Jordan Storey and Milutin Osmajic, the latter being replaced by Ben Whiteman 10 minutes later due to injury, while Ryan Longman, Lewis Brunt and George Dobson - and later Moore and Lewis O'Brien - were summoned from the bench by Parkinson.

Okonkwo was alert to pull off a stellar save to deny Michael Smith late on, but Wales international Moore's alertness at the other end proved decisive as he netted a third goal in two games to win it for the away side.

What they said

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom:

"It's a frustrating night because we've conceded three goals but Jack [Walton] has not had a save to make. It's one of those evenings.

"I'm frustrated that we're not still in it but, you know what, we've got to make sure it's a blessing now when we recover well and we capitalise on not having that accumulation of games which we got last season.

"We'll learn, recover now in the next couple of days because from what I've seen of Portsmouth it's going to be a really tough, frantic game down there."

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson:

"I'm very pleased, it's a good night for us. I thought first-half we got back in it quickly after they scored.

"I felt we lost our belief after their (second) goal. Second-half we played with a real belief and I felt we deservedly won the game.

"We had a lot of control with our play and I was very pleased with how we responded from the break to the end."