Wrexham pegged back as Jannik Vestergaard’s late goal earns Leicester a point

Jannik Vestergaard’s 90th minute equaliser denied Wrexham a win that would have put them within a whisker of the Sky Bet Championship play-off places as Leicester held them to a 1-1 draw.

Lewis O’Brien had fired Wrexham in front in the 63rd minute, no less than they deserved for a dominant second-half display in which Leicester rarely managed to break out of their own half. However, Vestergaard scored at the end with only the Foxes’ second shot after the break.

The result leaves Wrexham ninth, two points from the top six, while Leicester – without a clean sheet in their last 22 Championship games – drop to 14th.

Former Foxes midfielder Matty James, one of six changes to Phil Parkinson’s Wrexham side from the 2-1 home loss to Norwich on Saturday which ended a 10-game unbeaten run in north Wales, had the first chance but his low shot was straight at Jakub Stolarczyk.

Moments later O’Brien controlled the ball on his chest before sending a volley just wide.

Leicester did not have a sight of goal until the 26th minute, with Jordan Ayew’s strike from distance routine for Arthur Okonkwo.

Strong winds and relentless rain were behind the Foxes in the first half but it was Wrexham who had adapted more quickly, threatening again in the 31st minute when Vestergaard was grateful to see the ball go wide after getting himself in a tangle defending Ryan Longman’s cross.

Leicester’s Wales international Jordan James, their in-form man with nine goals this term, hobbled off with an apparent hamstring injury in the 39th minute, but the Foxes responded with their best chance of the half as Okonkwo saved well at the feet of Bobby De Cordova-Reid.

Wrexham were immediately on the front foot at the start of the second half but Longman’s shot from range went over the crossbar. Stolarczyk then clawed away an inswinging free-kick from O’Brien after he was fouled by Caleb Okoli.

When Oliver Rathbone’s 54th-minute strike was parried by Stolarczyk the rebound just missed Kieffer Moore, before Ben Sheaf’s strike was blocked. Leicester went straight to the other hend where Okonkwo saved well from Stephy Mavididi.

But it was Wrexham who were well on top. Moore flashed a shot wide from distance, then tried a curling effort which did not have enough bend on it.

The breakthrough arrived in the 63rd minute. Liberato Cacace’s low cross towards Moore was deflected by Okoli to wrong-foot Stolarczyk and as he failed to clear, O’Brien arrived to rifle into the unguarded net for his fourth league goal of the season.

Chances dried up as the game became scrappy, but Wrexham’s failure to add a second goal would cost them in the closing stages.

Just when it looked like it was all over, Ayew won a free-kick and chipped the ball into the box. Okoli flicked it on, and Vestergaard swept home.