A third minute penalty miss from striker Lamine Sakho proved costly as a hard working and organised Altrincham held out for a draw to take the tie to a replay on Tuesday at Moss Lane.

With the Twin Towers of Wembley as a prize for a successful run in this competition Dean Saunders made four changes as Gareth Taylor and Frank Sinclair missed the game through injury, Maxwell was rested to the bench and Neil Taylor also missed out. Sam Russell, Ashley Westwood, Silvio Spann and Matty Wolfenden started for the Dragons.

On a bright but sunny day in North Wales Wrexham kicked off attacking the Kop end of The Racecourse and were given a gilt edged opportunity to get an early goal when the visitors struggled to clear a corner and Spann was brought down in the area by Matt Doughty.

The referee pointed to the spot, but Lamine Sakho's penalty was weak and wide of the target, and The Robins were let off the hook.

Mike Williams went close with a header from Wes Baynes corner before the game settled into a midfield stalemate with Altrincham looking well organised and disciplined and Wrexham despite some good movement from Matt Wolfenden did not look capable of breaking them down in open play.

Altrincham looked dangerous from set pieces and Wrexham by conceding several free kicks in their own half put themselves under some needless pressure.

On 33 minutes, Wrexham almost took the lead when Mani's header from Baynes' corner was blocked by Coburn's legs and scrambled clear by the defence.

Ashley Westwood went into the referee's book on 39 minutes for a foul, but as the majority of action was concentrated into the middle third of the pitch it was no real surprise when the half ended scoreless.

HT: Wrexham 0 Altrincham 0

There were no changes in personnel at the break and it was the visitors who got the game underway. Both sides were still too pedestrian in their build up although Sam Russell did well on 52 minutes to get a dangerous cross away at the second attempt.

On the hour mark, Saunders made a change with Adrian Cieslewicz coming on and Spann dropping to full back. It facilitated a change in formation to 4-3-3 and Wrexham started to make some head way with a header from Assoumani blocked and Wes Baynes shooting wide from the edge of the box.

Marc Williams replaced Wolfenden and started to drop deep and feed some good balls wide to Cieslewicz, and it was the two of them who set up Wes Baynes for a shot which struck the outside of the post on 76 minutes.

Altrincham went close from a Denham free kick, but Russell held Robbie Williams half hit shot.

It was Wrexham though that finished the stronger as the part timers started to tire and the home side pressed forward looking to get the vital break through, but the resilient Robins held on to take the tie to a replay.

The second game will take play at Moss Lane this coming Tuesday evening (7.45). Admission is by cash at the turnstiles on the night.

Wrexham (4-4-2): Sam Russell, Curtis Obeng (Adrian Cieslewicz 59), Mansour Assoumani, Ashley Westwood, Mike Williams, Silvio Spann, Nathan Fairhurst, Andy Fleming, Wes Baynes, Matty Wolfenden (Marc Williams 66), Lamine Sakho.
Subs: Chris Maxwell, Mark Jones, Hedi Taboubi.

Altrincham (5-3-2): Stuart Coburn, Shaun Densmore, James Smith, Robbie Williams, Greg Young, Matt Doughty, Tom Kearney, Anthony Danylyk (Colin Little 71), Robbie Lawton, Nicky Clee (Chris Denham 63), Chris Senior.
Subs: Russell Saunders, Michael Welch, Andrew Pearson.

Referee: Ian Smedley (Derbys)
Attendance: 1,065
Away: 129

Bookings:
Wrexham: Ashley Westwood (foul), Andy Fleming (foul), Mansour Assoumani (foul)
Altrincham: Nicky Clee (foul), Matt Doughty (dissent)