1-0 Mooney (6)
1-1 Mark Jones (32)

For the second season in a row Mark Jones hit a beauty from outside the box to open Wrexham's account for the season, this time earning an admirable point away to pre-season promotion favourites Wycombe.

In fact, The Dragons did themselves proud in this tough first game of the season, having the better of the second half with Chris Llewellyn hitting the post and a Neil Roberts shot being cleared off the line in the last minute!

Everyone wants to make a good impression on the first day of the season, but the match revolved around two goalkeeping errors, one at each end, which left the sides level at the break.

After just six minutes an error by Michael Ingham gave the home side the lead when Tommy Mooney's apparently innocuous shot went straight through the Wrexham keeper.

In reply, Wrexham mustered little threat until Mark Jones scored a remarkable equaliser-does he score any other type of goal? A long clearance over the top in the thirty-second minute was chased by Matty Done, but Wycombe keeper Ricardo Batista beat him to it and seemed to be in control until he sliced his clearance wide, chased it unnecessarily and allowed Jones to curl a magnificent long range goal into the abandoned net!

With Shaun Pejic ruled out, and illness meaning that Mike Williams had to pull out of the squad this morning, Steve Evans made his league debut in the centre of a Wrexham defence which also featured a Dragons debut for Ryan Valentine, while Gareth Evans got a place on the bench. Re-signings Llewelyn and Roberts, unveiled as the new skipper, were paired up front as Denis Smith opted for a 4-4-2 formation.

The new men had no time to bed down before Ingham's 6th minute error though, and with Wrexham still reeling the Chairboys nearly doubled their lead two minutes later, a well-worked free kick falling to Will Antwi, whose effort on the turn went narrowly wide from the edge of the six yard-box.

It took a quarter of an hour for Wrexham to test Batista, but a neat move fizzled out when Matty Done's cross was headed down by Llewellyn to Roberts, whose shot rolled weakly to the goalkeeper. The Dragons' next effort was, through a combination of the goalie's rashness and Jones' talent, to prove rather more productive!

Wycombe looked to respond to Jones' strike with Anthony Grant smashing a shot wide from distance, but Jones tried to launch another spectacular effort soon afterwards, putting it just a yard wide, and Wrexham certainly looked more confident as the half ended, with Done looking progressively more dangerous.

Indeed, the final action of the half saw the combined height of Dennis Lawrence and Evans cause mayhem in the box from a corner, but the ex-TNS stopper couldn't quite squeeze a meaningful shot in on goal.

A lively start to the second half saw Wrexham begin well, although they were nearly caught out from one of their own corners when Jermaine Easter dispossessed Jones, fed Kevin Betsy on the wing and raced onto a return pass only to shoot wide.

The visitors had a chance to add another unorthodox goal when Grant ran into the referee and lost the ball, the rebound eventually falling to Roberts, whose shot from the corner of the box rose over the bar.

The skipper's threat grew as the half wore on, as he headed a Simon Spender cross wide before causing panic in the Wanderers defence by springing their offside trap and crossing to the far post, where Llewelyn's header hit the woodwork and bounced away to safety.

Moments later Wrexham nearly exploited Wycombe's square defence again, a marginal offside decision thwarting Done as he latched onto Jones' through pass.

At the other end Chris Palmer was a threat down the left, and a forceful run took him past both Spender and Jones but his shot was too close to Ingham. Ingham had another chance to make amends for his costly error when Matt Bloomfield raced clear, but the big keeper stood up well, earning Valentine enough time to get back and force him away from goal.

However, Wrexham should have won it in the last minute when a fluent move saw Done cross to Roberts whose shot beat the keeper but hit Russell Martin on the line and bounced clear.

Both Evans and Valentine enjoyed solid debuts at the back, although the latter picked up Wrexham's first booking of the season after seventeen minutes for a clumsy challenge, to be followed into the ref's book eight minutes later by Danny WIlliams in similar circumstances. In the second half Done controversially became the third Dragon to go into the book for what looked like a fair challenge.

There can be no doubt that a point from Adams Park is a sound achievement, and there was plenty of promise to be found from the performance, reminiscent of the 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe which started off the 2002-3 promotion season. If injuries or Denis Smith's newfound abillity to dabble in the transfer market allow him to add a cutting edge to such a solid foundation, this could be a rather more satisfying campaign than the last one!

Wycombe: Ricardo Batista, Sam Stockley, Martin, Antwi, Williamson, Anthony Grant (Stefan Oakes 69), Chris Palmer, Matt Bloomfield, Kevin Betsy, Tom Mooney, Jermaine Easter (Jonny Dixon 78).
Subs: Young, Christon, Sergio Torres.

Wrexham: Michael Ingham, Simon Spender , Ryan Valentine, Steve Evans, Dennis Lawrence, Darren Ferguson, Danny Williams, Mark Jones, Matt Done, Chris Llewellyn, Neil Roberts.
Subs: Michael Jones, Gareth Evans, Matt Crowell, Levi Mackin, Jamie Reed.

Referee: P Miller (Bedfordshire)
Attendance: 4,763
Away: 525

Booked -
Wrexham: Valentine, Danny Williams, Done.