Rubin Colwill scored a ferocious equaliser with almost the final kick of the match to earn Cardiff a 1-1 Championship draw with Wrexham.
Wrexham appeared to have the Welsh derby bragging rights sewn up as the contest ticked into the eighth minute of added time at Cardiff City Stadium.
But George Dobson brought down Joel Colwill on the edge of the box, and his brother Rubin stepped up to lash a brilliant free kick over the wall and past Anthony Patterson in the Wrexham goal.
Colwill’s strike cancelled out Kieffer Moore’s third-minute effort, the former Cardiff forward continuing his habit of scoring against his former employers — his seventh versus the Bluebirds.
Wrexham had 18 goal attempts to 11 and, in truth, should have prevented any late anxiety by putting the game beyond hosts back at this level after a season in League One.
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Cardiff’s defensive resources had been stretched by injuries to Calum Chambers, Dylan Lawlor and Will Fish, so much so that usual left-back Joel Bagan was switched inside to partner Gabriel Osho in the heart of defence.
The new-look partnership was exposed immediately after Cardiff only managed to clear a Lewis O’Brien free kick as far as Danny Imray and his ball forward caught the hosts napping.
Osho played Moore onside and the striker broke beyond Bagan to rifle the ball above Nathan Trott’s head for his first goal since February, ending a run of 11 Wrexham games without scoring.
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Trott tipped over Callum Doyle’s header as Cardiff appeared to get to grips with the pace of Championship football.
But the Bluebirds slowly improved and had a good spell midway through the first half after Zak Vyner left a back pass short and Patterson reacted smartly to beat Yousef Salech to the loose ball.
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Jack Moylan scooped over and Paterson made a comfortable save from Cian Ashford after some slick Cardiff passing.
Wrexham went close to a second when Moore rose well from an O’Brien cross and skimmed the crossbar with a header.
Imray’s scuffed shot then forced a save from Trott, although the ball appeared to be heading wide anyway.
Just as they had at the start of the game Cardiff switched off again following the restart.
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Ollie Rathbone’s ball inside found Doyle and Trott was alive at the near post to save with his foot.
Trott made a more comfortable stop from Nathan Broadhead before Doyle lashed a rasping drive past him and on to a post.
Cardiff sent on the Colwill brothers just after the hour mark to try and shift momentum in their favour and Moylan saw his deflected effort drift just wide.
Dominic Hyam headed against his own crossbar, but Cardiff kept pushing to deny Wrexham their first win in the Welsh capital since 1992.
