Macaulay Langstaff's 15th goal of the season was enough to hand us victory in a nervy, end-to-end blockbuster in front of 10,741 at Meadow Lane.

The forward rounded off a sensational first-half set piece with what proved to be the decisive goal, but both keepers would have huge parts to play as the night unfolded.

Having given them both a breather in the weekend win over Altrincham, Luke Williams recalled Jim O’Brien and Aaron Nemane to the starting XI in a move which saw Tobi Adebayo-Rowling and Quevin Castro named among the substitutes.

We could, and probably should, have had the dream start when Kyle Cameron drifted a delightful cross into the middle inside two minutes. Langstaff had drifted into space but saw his free header saved by Mark Howard, only for the rebound to fall to Aaron Nemane. His cross-shot was cleared off the line and our visitors breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Wrexham had a chance of their own when Ollie Palmer capitalised on a defensive mix-up to race into the area with Connell Rawlinson in close pursuit. The forward could only send his low shot narrowly wide.

Within a minute Wrexham had Howard to thank for another important save as he got his fingertips to Cedwyn Scott’s powerful shot, sending it just over the bar.

Richard Brindley saw an effort deflected wide, Scott failed to get proper purchase on a shot and Ruben Rodrigues skewed a difficult half-volley wide as our excellent start to the game continued.

And on 13 minutes we had the goal we deserved in sensational style as a brilliantly-worked wide free-kick involving Adam Chicksen, Rodrigues and Matt Palmer resulted in the latter squaring for Langstaff to finish emphatically with his left foot 12 yards out.

The game settled down thereafter, with Wrexham having to wait until 25 minutes for their response as Jordan Davies brought a lofted ball under his control before firing a half-volley over from 20 yards out.

A minute later, the ball broke for James Jones 25 yards out but he couldn’t get his shot on target.

We were dealt a blow shortly afterwards as O’Brien pulled up injured, making way for Geraldo Bajrami on his return to the squad.

Cameron was involved at both ends as half-time neared, sending an acrobatic shot over before doing brilliantly to get goalside of Paul Mullin at the other end moments later, snuffing out the danger.

As both sides jostled for control, we carved out a good opening on 41 minutes as Scott played Nemane to the byline. His low cross was fortuitously turned over his own bar by a defender, but the wing back should probably have cut the ball back for Langstaff who had cleverly moved into space at the near post.

And there was more frustration moments later when Bajrami burst forward brilliantly before failing to supply Scott to his right.

With Chicksen requiring treatment following a collision with Palmer, five minutes were added on at the end of the first half and there was a nervy moment when Mullin broke the offside trap and lifted a shot over from a tight angle.

But we had the final say in the half when Rodrigues wrapped a pass into Langstaff, whose well-struck left-footed effort was pushed away by Howard.

We emerged for the second half unchanged and Sam Slocombe made two important interventions in quick succession following the resumption of play, getting a strong hand to a shot before bailing out Chicksen whose ill-judged backpass forced the keeper out quickly to beat Mullin to the ball.

And, a minute later, the keeper made his biggest contribution of the game when Palmer was played through on goal. Time seemed to stand still as Slocombe kept his nerve to stay on his feet, blocking Palmer’s unconvincing shot and bravely gathering the loose ball.

We responded with a huge chance of our own when Langstaff did brilliantly to win the ball high up the field before supplying Bajrami in the area. The midfielder looked certain to score but his left-footed shot was brilliantly diverted wide by a defender.

A minute later, Nemane raced to the byline and sent a cross-shot across goal with too much pace on the ball for anyone to capitalise in the middle.

And Nemane was unleashed again by Brindley a minute later, only to take a heavy touch and fire his cross into the side-netting.

It was end-to-end stuff and we had our heart in our mouths just before the hour when a glancing header crossed Slocombe’s box and, thankfully, went behind for a goal kick.

But Wrexham had their own cause for concern 10 minutes later when Scott spun 25 yards out and fired a brilliant effort towards the bottom corner, only to be denied by a strong Howard save.

The keeper made a more comfortable stop from Cameron shortly afterwards before the visitors responded with two goalmouth scrambles and an Aarron Hayden header straight at Slocombe.

Austin replaced Scott with 11 minutes to play and he so nearly helped us wrap up the game when his blocked effort resulted in the ball squirming towards Rodrigues, but it didn't quite reach the Portuguese a few yards out.

With the clock ticking down towards full-time, Langstaff made way for Mitchell to rapturous applause from the huge Meadow Lane crowd.

And we saw out the five additional minutes brilliantly to record a massive win.

STARTING XI: Slocombe; Cameron, Rawlinson, Brindley; Chicksen, Nemane; Palmer, O’Brien (Bajrami 35'), Rodrigues; Scott (Austin 79'), Langstaff (Mitchell 87')

UNUSED SUBS: Adebayo-Rowling, Castro

BOOKINGS: Slocombe 60', Langstaff 70', Brindley 90+4'

ATTENDANCE: 10,741 (1,892)