Wrexham continued their quest for a first home victory when they were held to a 1-1 draw by an equally win‑starved Burnley side, who sit just above the bottom of the Sky Bet Championship. The match, played at the Racecourse Ground, saw Jacques Ekomie restore parity for the home team with a header that marked his second goal for the club since arriving from Angers for a reported £7 million in the summer. His strike came after Zeki Amdouni had given the Clarets the lead in the first half, ending Burnley's dreadful run of seven consecutive away defeats that stretched back to the previous season.
While the point feels like a modest consolation for both clubs, it does little to advance their respective ambitions. Wrexham have lost the momentum that carried them into the campaign, and Burnley’s woes have deepened after their relegation from the Premier League, having managed only a single league win since October.
The match also featured the brief involvement of former England international Jamie Vardy, who signed on a free transfer earlier in the week after the club sold top‑scorer Zian Flemming to Ipswich on deadline day. Vardy, however, was ineligible to play due to a suspension carried over from his spell with Italian side Cremonese, so he watched from the sidelines as the drama unfolded. The opening moments suggested Wrexham might have taken the lead within four minutes.
A cross from Issa Kabore was floated back into the danger area by Max Cleworth, only for Callum Doyle to head straight at goalkeeper Max Weiss. The hosts then came close in the 18th minute when Phil Moore rose to meet a Matty James delivery, but his header was comfortably saved by Weiss after Doyle squared the ball from the flank. Burnley’s attacking threat was limited, but they found a spark through Leeds loanee Largie Ramazani. The young winger provided the decisive pass for the opening goal in the 26th minute, threading a perfectly weighted ball to Amdouni, who slotted home on his first touch.
The Swiss forward nearly doubled the lead moments later when a long‑range effort deflected off Cleworth; Anthony Patterson stretched to push the ball wide, preserving the one‑goal margin. The second half saw Wrexham grow increasingly anxious as the crowd’s mood soured.
A free‑kick six minutes before halftime offered a chance to equalise, but James’ low strike was well‑saved by Weiss and Kabore’s follow‑up hit the side‑netting. At the break, the home fans expressed their displeasure with a chorus of boos, prompting manager Phil Parkinson to introduce deadline‑day signing Callum O'Hare alongside recent recruit Oli Rathbone.
Rathbone’s presence paid dividends when a superb cross from Kabore found Ekomie, whose powerful header restored parity for Wrexham. The equaliser was a collaborative effort, with the two wing‑backs—signed just a month earlier—playing key roles in the build‑up.
O'Hare, however, missed a chance when he headed wide from a James cross, and Kabore later intercepted a short pass from Weiss but failed to locate a teammate, resulting in another missed opportunity. A defensive mix‑up later saw O'Hare fire a shot wide after a scramble in the box. Burnley almost snatched a winner in the 73rd minute when Oliver Sonne’s effort was blocked on the line by Ekomie, but the intervention only added to the frustration that lingered for both sets of supporters.
The match concluded with a shared point, leaving both managers to reflect on their performances. Phil Parkinson, speaking after the game, tried to keep a positive outlook: "Let's not get too despondent. Burnley were in the Premier League last year, and they've had a bad start to the season but they've got some very good players.
As much as we want to win it, I think the second‑half performance was a lot better and I don't want to be too down about drawing against Burnley… Respect the point. We'd have loved it to be three…I thought the game was there for us to go and win it, I really did, and we just kind of got a bit scruffy in terms of our possession, gave the ball away a bit cheaply at times.
But it's not a lack of effort. The lads gave us a lot over these last three games." Burnley’s caretaker manager Nicky Hayen echoed a similar sentiment: "Especially the first half, I think we played a really good first half, with a really great goal. We found our solutions, a lot of movement, a lot of courage.
So I'm really satisfied with the first half, but of course the match lasts 95 minutes. The second half was decent but not as good as the first half. We conceded a goal and it became more open. They could score a second one, we could score a second one so you could win this game, you could lose this game and a point is a fair result." Both clubs now return to the drawing board, aware that a solitary point does little to change their fortunes in a tightly contested division.
For Wrexham, the challenge will be to recapture the form that saw them surge into the season, while Burnley must find a way to break their winless streak and climb out of the relegation zone before the campaign’s final stretch.