Wrexham 2
Stevenage 3
League (League One)

Match report written by Neil Metcalfe, The Comet

Stevenage have a habit of being party poopers, the fly in the ointment, the monkey in the wrench.

Wrexham will agree after seeing their unbeaten home record disappear with a 3-2 success for the Hertfordshire side.

Goals by Dan Kemp and Jamie Reid had stunned the home crowd and even though they pulled one back, Paul Mullin getting the credit, Jake Young restored the two-goal lead with 19 minutes to go.

Max Cleworth raised home hopes again but even with seven added minutes, the Welsh side were unable to find an equaliser, leaving Boro deserved winners.

There were four changes from the win over Barnsley.

The surprise omission was Luther Wildin, a knee injury picked up in that success at Oakwell, and he was replaced by Kane Smith.

Dan Sweeney came in for Charlie Goode and Louis Appere replaced Young.

The fourth switch saw Eli King get his first start in the league since the trip to Rotherham United, back in October.

Harvey White was moved to the bench to accommodate.

Wrexham fans have not had too much to moan about for the last few years so the boos that rang out at half-time were a surprise.

There was an argument to say they were deserved though.

Boro were first to almost every second ball as they pressed, harried and outfought the home squad.

And two goals in five minutes, before we had even reached 20 minutes on the clock, were just rewards for that.

The first was an eighth of the season for Kemp but began thanks to excellent defensive work by King and Carl Piergianni.

The skipper sent the scorer away on the counter and with options either side, he chose to play it right to Jordan Roberts.

The shot was scuffed buy Arthur Okonkwo couldn't hold it and Kemp continued his own run, slamming the ball home.

Five minutes later we saw a long-awaited glimpse of the vintage Reid.

His flick to Appere may not have been meant but what followed after he got it straight back was.

He ran across the edge of the box before unleashing a furious shot that flicked off the keeper and found the top corner.

And there should have been more in all honesty.

Eli King fired well over and then hesitated too much moments later, getting crowded out in the process.

Kemp also sent an effort over the top while a clipped Roberts cross was just too high for Appere to get a meaningful header.

Wrexham offered little in attack, one cross towards James McClean the best of what they did have. He was crowded out by Smith and stopped by Cooper, as well as the offside flag.

There was always going to be a reaction from the hosts at the break and it came in the shape of a double substitution.

On came big guns Mullin and Steven Fletcher and within 10 minutes, you could say it worked.

A corner was only partly cleared and although Rathbone did not connect properly with his shot, it bounced through the crowd and in, Mullin credited with the crucial final touch.

Stevenage were then rocked by a head injury to Smith, and furious that because he had fell off the pitch on the far side, the referee would not allow the physio to come directly across.

He had to go round the side, while in the meantime the full-back had tried to get up and flopped jelly-leg to the floor again.

He was replaced by Nick Freeman and two more subs followed as manager Alex Revell tried to stem the flow.

One of those to come on was Young and he not only stemmed the flow, he restored the two goal advantage.

A cross from the right by King was played back to Young by Kemp and the former Bradford man stepped to his left before firing inside the near post of Okonkwo.

Boro then went into game management mode. There were another two subs and plenty of stoppages.

That meant a lot of time was expected to be added on and it was seven that was shown by the fourth official.

Murphy Cooper still needed to push a Jack Marriott shot away before we got there but. more importantly, Wrexham had a second through Cleworth, moments before the board went up.

But despite one shot from Mullin that dipped over, and plenty of balls into the box, Stevenage held firm to record a big win.