By Jason Burns

RYAN BIRD’S close-range strike helped Athletic slay the Dragons on a sunny afternoon at Crabble.
The striker cooly slotted home Kane Richards’ lay-off on 19 minutes to leave Wrexham pointless ahead of their 280-mile journey home.

But the trek back to North Wales may well have been sweeter had home stopper Mitch Walker not denied Mark Carrington early on from a few yards after Manny Parry’s attempted clearance rolled into his path.
It was Bird who drew first blood and the former Newport County man nearly made the wound deeper, but his looping header fro...