Chelsea midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu spared manager Enzo Maresca’s blushes in his first game as manager by equalising late on against League One Wrexham in Santa Clara, California.
A sharp finish in the penalty box from Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring in the 35th minute of Chelsea’s opening friendly on their pre-season tour of the United States.
But Wrexham took a surprise lead after both teams made wholesale changes at half-time with Luke Bolton and Jack Marriott scoring following defensive mistakes.
Ugochukwu equalised in the 82nd minute as Wrexham impressed – adding to their 1-1 draw against Bournemouth on Saturday in a half-empty Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers.
The match started in lively fashion with Levi Colwill and James McClean escaping red cards following an early bust up.
Reece James hit a post with a curled free-kick and produced a series of dangerous corners in the first half as Chelsea led 1-0 at the break.
But in the second half, Ugochukwu failed to cut out Seb Revan’s cross, which was turned in at the far post by Bolton.
An error by Josh Acheampong saw Marriott hit an impressive low drive to give Wrexham a shock lead. Marriott then saw another effort well saved by Chelsea’s second-half goalkeeper Lucas Bergstrom.
Chelsea’s equaliser came from a slick move involving substitutes Angelo Gabriel, Armando Broja and Ugochukwu, who made up for his earlier mistake by sliding in a good left foot finish to level the match.