Bird's Blinder Snatches Late Point in Championship Thriller: Bristol City Hold Wrexham

Right, lads, grab a pint because if you missed this Sky Bet Championship cracker at Ashton Gate, you've got some serious catching up to do. On a night so cold it could freeze the balls off a brass monkey, Bristol City and Wrexham served up a proper six-pointer for those play-off dreams, ending in a pulsating 2-2 draw. Wrexham, chasing a fifth straight away win, looked like they had it in the bag twice, but Max Bird's absolute rocket of a volley right at the death turned the script on its head.

Let's rewind. The Robins were coming off a morale-boosting smash at Hull but still nursing bruises from that humiliating 5-0 Derby spanking at home last time out. Home fans weren't exactly rolling out the red carpet. Wrexham, meanwhile, were flying high, but this was no stroll in the park. Early doors, it was cagey as a poker game – George Tanner got a right whack from his own keeper Radek Vitek (talk about friendly fire), and Neto Borges skyed one into orbit.

First real action? Nathan Broadhead tees up George Thomason, but Vitek's got it covered on Callum Doyle's nodder. Bristol's Mark Sykes was having kittens, convinced Dominic Hyam handled it, but ref Ruebyn Ricardo wasn't buying it. Then, bam – 34th minute, Doyle's cross pings off a City man straight to Ollie Rathbone, who unleashes a left-foot thunderbolt past Vitek. 1-0 Dragons. Half-time boos rained down on the hosts; not a single shot on target. Ouch.

Enter Gerhard Struber, the Robins' gaffer with a halftime triple sub swap that's straight out of the mad professor playbook: Sinclair Armstrong, Delano Burgzorg, and Jason Knight on. Game flipped quicker than a pancake. Arthur Okonkwo pulls off a couple of pearlers from Tomi Horvat and Armstrong, but then Horvat slips it to Armstrong on the right. The big lad shrugs off the angle like it's nothing and drills it into the far corner. 1-1, and Ashton Gate erupts.

Now it's end-to-end stuff, proper football porn. Vitek claws away a Broadhead effort (revenge for his goal in the reverse fixture?), Armstrong fluffs a sitter from a similar spot. The Irish powerhouse was everywhere, muscles bulging like he bench-presses tractors. But Wrexham weren't done – 76th minute, Issa Kabore nods it down, and poor Joe Williams gets his feet in a right tangle, bundling it into his own net. 2-1 visitors. Cue the away end going potty.

Just when you thought Wrexham were home and dry, enter Max Bird, subbed on and fresh off five months injured. Two minutes from time, from 20 yards, he volleys it off the bar's underside like a Exocet missile. Boom! 2-2. Struber later called it no coincidence, banging on about Bird's training form and office heart-to-hearts. Fair play, what a way to announce your comeback.

Wrexham had late chances – George Dobson fluffing two gilt-edged ones – but couldn't seal it. Phil Parkinson, their boss, reckoned it was their best away showing, patient and clinical with Rathbone's pearler, but admitted the dressing room was glum. 'Feels like two dropped,' he sighed, though he urged calm. Derby sneak into sixth by a whisker.

This one's got it all: own goals, screamers, subs changing the narrative, and that biting cold making every tackle crunch like fresh snow. Bristol claw back some goodwill, Wrexham stay in the hunt but fuming. Play-offs? Still wide open. Who's buying the next round to toast Birdy's belter?