Championship: Bristol City deny play-off rivals Wrexham, Portsmouth boost survival bid

Bristol City salvaged a 2-2 draw against Championship play-off rivals Wrexham, after Max Bird equalised with a thunderous volley in the 89th minute.

Wrexham were comfortably the better side in the first half at Ashton Gate and went ahead through Ollie Rathbone’s 34th-minute finish.

Bristol City boss Gerhard Struber made a triple substitution at half-time, introducing Delano Burgzorg, Jason Knight and Sinclair Armstrong, and the latter made it 1-1 from a tight angle only two minutes after the restart.

Wrexham went back in front with 14 minutes to play as Joe Williams turned Issa Kabore’s cross into his own net, but they could not hold on for a win that would have moved them into the top six.

Bird met Knight’s cross with a wonderful, first-time strike that rattled the underside of the crossbar on its way in with time running out, keeping ninth-placed Bristol City just a point behind Wrexham, who stay seventh.

Absurd from Max Bird! @BristolCity #EFL | #SkyBetChampionship pic.twitter.com/eRn2AKO7fe

— Sky Bet Championship (@SkyBetChamp) February 17, 2026

In Tuesday’s other game, Terry Devlin scored two goals from distance as Portsmouth won 3-1 at Charlton Athletic to climb to 19th.

Devlin’s first goal had a hint of fortune as it squirmed past home goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski into the middle of the net, but his second – which came after a Colby Bishop penalty made it 2-0 – was a 25-yard blockbuster that gave Kaminski no chance.

Substitute Jayden Fevrier got one back for Charlton, but they are now just three points clear of Portsmouth, who have leapfrogged West Brom and Blackburn Rovers and still have a game in hand on all their fellow relegation candidates.

Data Debrief: Bird is the word

Wrexham were looking to win five consecutive away games in the same Football League campaign for the first time since May 2003, when they achieved the feat as a fourth-tier club.

And they were agonisingly close to doing so, only for Bird’s second Championship goal of the season – and his first from outside the area in the competition since August 2022 (for Derby County against Middlesbrough) to deny them.