DRAGONS DELIVER TO THE RELIEF OF MILLS

JOHN ROONEY came to the rescue of under-fire manager Gary Mills after his second-half winner earned Wrexham a deserved victory at Meadow Park.

Mills has come in for criticism in recent weeks following a string of bad results, including a 3-0 defeat to Macclesfield in midweek.

But the Dragons were much improved against a lacklustre Wood, who slumped to their first defeat in five games.

Rooney’s half-volley just before the hour gave Wrexham their first win and first goal in three games, much to the relief of his manager.

“You either sink or you swim and we’ve swam today,” a relieved Mills said. “We played superbly and wanted to win so badly and we got it.”

Opposite number Luke Garrard was gracious in defeat, admitting his side never really got going: “We were off the pace all over the park and Wrexham thoroughly deserved their win today.

“Defeat is always horrible to taste, but we’ve had a good start to the season, so I can’t be too disappointed.”

Straight from kick-off Wrexham looked like the side that wanted to win more – forcing Wood keeper Grant Smith into a number of early saves.

He had to be on top form to tip Tyler Harvey’s header over the bar and keep out a powerful 25 yard effort from Rooney in the opening 15 minutes.

Wood weathered the early Wrexham storm and could have taken the lead when Angelo Balanta poked Anthony Jeffrey’s cross just over the bar. Winger Paul Rutherford nearly opened the scoring in style after the break, cutting inside from the left and shooting with power from 20 yards, only for Smith to parry the ball wide. Wrexham finally found the breakthrough when a scramble in the box fell to Rooney who fired a left footed half-volley low into the bottom right corner. Balanta had what would be Wood’s only chance to equaliser soon after when Bruno Andrade’s cross found the striker in space in the six-yard box, but away keeper Shawn Jalal somehow managed to tip the ball wide with an instinctive save. Asked whether he was affected by the prematch criticism, Mills said: “It’s a tough job, but I’m enjoying it and I’ll continue to do that job until Wrexham football club don’t want me to my job. “It’s a great victory today, so it’ll be nice to be talked about in a nice way.” With their unbeaten run over, Garrard urged his team to bounce back quickly: “On Tuesday against Braintree we’ve got a chance to make it right. “We’re not looking behind us and we’re still in a good position in the league. I’ve told the players what I think and hopefully we’ll see a reaction.”