Wrexham signed off a memorable 2025 by beating Preston North End to secure back-to-back league wins for the first time in the Championship this season.

Nathan Broadhead headed home his fifth goal of the season in all competitions to put the hosts ahead just before half-time in north Wales.

Substitute Ollie Rathbone notched his second goal in just his fourth league outing since returning from injury before Alfie Devine's fourth goal of the campaign gave Preston late hope.

But Wrexham held on to extend their unbeaten run at home in the Championship to 10 matches.

Victory lifted Phil Parkinson's men to 11th in the table, four points off the play-off spots.

The Lilywhites drop to seventh after suffering a first league loss in eight matches.

Neither side threatened early on as Arthur Okonkwo did well to ensure Brad Potts - making his first start of the campaign - was unable to round off a slick move from the visitors.

But an uneventful contest came to life after Josh Windass' deflected strike looped over the crossbar.

Daniel Iversen denied Broadhead and Kieffer Moore in quick succession before Mads Frokjaer-Jensen fired straight at Okonkwo at the other end.

The majority of the 10,616-strong crowd thought the hosts had gone ahead just before the half-hour mark when Okonkwo's quick throw set Broadhead free, but Wrexham's record signing could only drive an effort wide after a mesmerising run from the halfway line.

But Broadhead was clinical six minutes before the interval as Moore crossed from the right to pick out his fellow Wales international who guided his header into the bottom corner of Iversen's net.

Wrexham were dealt a blow in the final seconds of the opening half as top-scorer Moore was forced off through injury, with Sam Smith replacing the towering frontman at the break.

The Lilywhites improved after the restart as Thierry Small tested Okonkwo with a driven shot, although Windass curled wide soon after with Wrexham growing increasingly reliant on counter-attacks.

Paul Heckingbottom's side spurned a glorious chance to make it 1-1 on the hour mark as Devine could only volley into the side netting after being left unmarked from Ben Whiteman's corner.

Iversen had to be alert to palm substitute Smith's thumping hit wide - with Callum Doyle missing the target with a header from the resulting corner.

Parkinson's side were inches away from doubling their lead on 74 minutes as George Thomason's looping cross was headed against the post by Smith.

But two substitutes combined as Wrexham made it 2-0 when George Dobson split the Preston defence before Rathbone coolly slotted beyond Iversen 13 minutes from time.

Devine set up a tense finish as he fired into the bottom corner but, despite a nervy finale, Wrexham held on for an eighth league win of the season to inflict just a fifth Championship defeat on Preston in 2025-26.

Fresh from producing arguably his best display of the season against Sheffield United three days earlier, Broadhead was once again a real menace for the Red Dragons.

Having stung the palms of Iversen earlier on, the 27-year-old went even closer to bulging the net following a mazy run after latching on to Okonkwo's long throw.

But the summer signing made it third time lucky before the break as he was the scorer with a header in an unlikely scenario where Moore was the provider from out wide.

Despite some inconsistency after a minor injury earlier in the campaign, the 17-cap international has produced several moments of quality since returning to north Wales.

He will hope 2026 can be even more fruitful, which in turn could also make him a real asset when it comes to his country's hopes of navigating the March play-offs to qualify for the World Cup next summer.

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson:

"I'm very pleased. I felt it was important that we backed up the Boxing Day win and performance and we spoke to the lads about that mentality," said the Wrexham boss.

"Tonight was about if we could respond to a really good performance where we had a lot of praise against Sheffield United and have that accountability individually and collectively. I felt we did that really well.

"It was a good performance against a really good side, we know that, they're up there for a reason, but I think over the 90 minutes, we deserved the win."

Preston North End boss Paul Heckingbottom:

"We weren't at our best. We had good moments where we played really well and looked a good side.

"But it was also a performance littered with mistakes and Wrexham capitalised on those.

"It was a typical Championship game, it could have gone either way. We made too many errors and couldn't capitalise on the moments when we did played well. Wrexham did."