threat, things looked bright, yet for all their promise they failed to carve out a clear sight of goal, their only real effort coming when Levi Mackin launched a twenty-yard drive with some power, but a kind deflection took it straight to the keeper.
By contrast, Altrincham were able to eke out the odd opportunity. A powerful drive by Robbie Lawton was well parried by Gavin Ward, and a corner to the far post afforded a free header to Greg Young, six yards out, but he planted it well over.
Altrincham began to take control of the middle of the park, forcing Saunders to switch to a 4-5-1; the part-timers' energy and tactical flexibility impressing enormously. On a number of occasions Wrexham's defence looked in danger of being breached, with the robust target man Dale Johnson linking well with Colin Little's darting movement and clever passing from the hole.
Both sides' best moments of the half came with just a minute of it left. First Altrincham gave a near perfect illustration of third man running, Lawton bursting from midfield to nearly beat Ward to Little's through ball, and the keeper's quick release started a break which ended in a skimming twenty-five yard by Louis being held low to his right by Andy Ralph.
Despite the loss of the enterprising Ritchie De Laet at the interval, and the necessity to introduce Silvio Spann as a right back in the absence of any other options on the bench, Wrexham started the second half in barn-storming fashion. Passing and attacking with pace they gained the initiative and it was no surprise when they took a 48th minute lead. A patient build-up down the right ended with Louis playing an excellent through ball to Marc Williams, who burst through the middle of the box, held of a defender and drilled the ball into the bottom left corner.
It seemed that Wrexham would now run away with the game. For the first time Altrincham looked demoralised and the visitors' play was energised by the adrenaline burst the goal had delivered. Their snappy passing allowed them to take control of midfield, but that all stopped abruptly when Altrincham pulled an equaliser out of the blue. Little turned a fine through-ball round the corner to send Johnson clear on goal. Ward saved at his feet and, as the ball span up in the air from his challenge, lay on his back, pawing it away like a cat playing with a mouse. The keeper was entitled to expect one of his defenders to reach it first, but Alex Meechan was the most alert player in the vicinity and he launched a hopeful lob from the edge of the box which soared over the stranded keeper and nestled in the net.
The remainder of the half was played mostly on Altrincham's terms as they controlled midfield and broke dangerously, but there was nothing to show in terms of end product; the nearest they came to a second came shortly after their equaliser when Spann was caught out of position and played Johnson onside as he raced clear through the middle, only to be denied by a superb recovering tackle by Neil Taylor, who covered the ground back to the striker with terrific pace.
In fact the best chance to settle the tie before extra time fell to Wrexham when a Tsiaklis free kick was met ten yards out by Louis, but he ballooned his free header well over. That miss was a precursor of what was to come, as the erratic talent of Jeff Louis would eventually prove decisive.
Having put everything they had into the ninety minutes, Altrincham's part-timers finally began to flag once extra time started, their cause not helped by the fact that they had already used all their subs and Warren Peyton was clearly carrying a knock. Wrexham took control, but again chances were at a premium. Louis, having moments earlier managed a sublime flick to play Marc Williams in, squandered the one chance of the opening period, completely missing the ball after Williams had rolled the ball to him ten yards out following a typically industrious burst down the left.
Six minutes in the second period Louis would strike the decisive blow, though. Simon Brown, who had been an ineffective substitute, broke down the right and whipped an excellent cross to Louis, six yards out, and the big striker took it on his thigh and drove it into the bottom right corner as it dropped.
That wasn't to be the end of it though. To Altrincham's credit they dug deep and tried to take the game to Wrexham. Leaving five men up the pitch at times, including centre back Young as a makeshift target man, they bombarded the Wrexham defence and forced some opportunities. As the hundred and twenty minutes elapsed they forced a corner which the keeper Ralph came up for, and he nearly got on the end of both the flag kick and, after it was cleared, the subsequent cross.
However, it was to be a full two minutes later, the referee making his final inexplicable decision by adding a chunk of injury time onto the uninterrupted half, that they carved out a great chance to take the game to penalties. A long ball from the right was dropped by Ward and fell to Peyton, whose shot from fifteen yards took a deflection and trickled wide of the open goal.
Moments later the final whistle blew. It was a hard-fought battle, and the reaction of players and coaching staff afterwards showed that they weren't happy with the performance. But it wasn't so long ago that such a match would have inevitably ended in defeat; once again it felt as if Saunders' side had taken a step forwards.
Wrexham's coaches and players were dissatisfied with this performance, representing a significant shift in expectations since Dean Saunders took over, but in fairness a first cup tie victory in eleven attempts, ending the worst sequence of winless cup games in the club's history, represented a significant result, not least in the light of what happened at Eastwood a week earlier.
Wrexham looked decent throughout the first half hour; they certainly played more football than they managed in the previous three games. With Angelos Tsiaklis neat on the ball and the pace of Shaun Whalley on the wing a
