Wrexham made it 16 games unbeaten with a draw against ten man Bromley, but they will feel it was two points dropped in a race for automatic promotion that now looks beyond them.
Bromley having been reduced to ten men following the sending off of Roger Johnson in first half injury time suffered a further blow when they fell a goal behind courtesy of a James Jennings header from a Paul Rutherford free kick. However Neil Smith’s side showed great resilience and spirit to grab a share of the spoils with Brandon Hanlan’s second half penalty cancelling out Wrexham’s lead.
Despite securing a Wembley berth with a dramatic win over Gateshead in the FA Trophy semi-final, Bromley’s league form had suffered as a result of their cup exploits with successive defeats to Solihull Moors and Hartlepool.
Ravens manager Neil Smith made a few changes from the Hartlepool game with Tyrone Sterling, Frankie Raymond, George Porter and Frankie Sutherland returning to the starting line-up and he was rewarded with a committed display as Bromley for the most part nullified the Wrexham threat in the first half.
Both sides were restricted to long distance efforts for the majority of the first half with Hanlan being the first to test visiting keeper Chris Dunn with a fizzing drive from 20 yards.
Scott Quigley went close for the visitors when a clearance fell to him on the edge of the penalty area but his left foot volley was parried away by Bromley custodian David Gregory.
With clear cut chances at a premium, Gregory was to be Bromley’s saviour on the half hour when he saved Chris Holroyd’s effort from point blank range after the Wrexham top scorer had reacted first to Quigley’s knock down.
Porter had time for one last effort before the interval when Dunn saved his long range strike but Bromley’s good work in the first half was undone when referee Mr Rock adjudged that Johnson had gone in late on Sam Wedgbury and gave the defender his marching orders.
In truth the challenge was mistimed rather than dangerous but Mr Rock had no hesitation in showing the towering defender a red card amidst vociferous agitation from several Wrexham players.
The Dragons didn’t take long in asserting their man advantage with an unmarked Jennings heading in seven minutes after the restart.
With Marcus Kelly at the forefront of the best attacking moves for Wrexham he was to miss a golden opportunity to stretch the leaad in the 63rd minute, Rutherford’s slide rule pass set Kelly away but Gregory made an excellent save to deny him a certain goal.
Wrexham were made to pay for that missed opportunity minutes later, Bromley substitute Omar Bugiel was fouled in the penalty area by Wedgbury and Hanlan made no mistake from the resultant penalty.
Wrexham were to continue to dominate proceedings after the equaliser but despite efforts from Nicky Deverdics who forced Gregory into a fine save at his near post, Kelly who hit the crossbar with an outrageous effort from 30 yards out and Jonathan Franks whose deflected strike crashed against the post. Wrexham could not make their pressure tell, however, and were nearly made to pay for their profligacy.
Nine minutes from time, substitute Josh Rees released Bugiel and the Lebanese international saw his shot skip just wide of Dunn’s right hand post.
Despite late Wrexham pressure Bromley were able to hold out and record a heartening draw that maintains their faint hopes of a late playoff push.
Bromley will be hoping to carry on the positives from the draw as they travel to automatic promotion hopefuls Sutton United on Easter Monday live on BT Sport.
Bromley: Gregory, Woolfenden, Holland, R.Johnson, Sterling, Higgs, Raymond (Rees 64), Sutherland, Mekki, Porter (Bugiel 57), Hanlan (D.Johnson 90)
Subs not used: Chorley, Wanadio
Wrexham: Dunn, Roberts, M.Smith, Pearson, Jennings, Rutherford (Franks 75), Wedgbury, Kelly, Deverdics (Boden 75), Holroyd, Quigley (Ainge 78)
Subs not used: Raven, Wright
Goal scorers / Time of goal: Bromley: Hanlan (66 pen) Wrexham: Jennings (52)
Sent off: R.Johnson (45)
Attendance: 1,403
Referee: Mr D.Rock