Wrexham came back from the dead with two goals in stoppage time to secure a stunning 3-2 win over QPR.

After Harvey Bale’s opening goal, Callum Doyle’s first Wrexham goal leveled the scores early in the second half.

Steve Cook’s 80th-minute goal looked to have sealed victory for Rangers, but 10 minutes later Amadou Mbenge was sent off and Rangers were reduced to 10 men, before the visitors scored twice in the space of a minute.

Dean Windass equalized and fellow substitute Ollie Rathbone scored the dramatic winner in the final minute with a powerful right-footed strike from 30 yards out.

Former Chelsea youngster Bale, who had just returned from injury, scored the opening goal in strong fashion six minutes later.

Nicholas Madsen intercepted a pass from Louis O’Brien and delivered a deft backheel to Karamoko Dembele, whose shot hit the bar. Dembélé scrambled for a loose ball on the right side of the penalty area, and Vale turned and fired a stunning left-footed volley past goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo.

It was just the start the hosts needed after back-to-back goalless draws, with Paul Smith teeing up Richard Cone and firing into the side-netting, Bale going wide and Dembele’s acrobatic effort finding the back of the net as the hosts continued to dominate.

Rangers failed to score a second goal in that time, but gave Wrexham a chance to stay in the game and hit back with an equalizer nine minutes after the interval.

Joe Walsh made a fine save to deny George Thomasson’s low shot, but the Reds were unable to clear their lines and Nathan Broadhead passed to Doyle, who fired a shot past Walsh at the near post.

QPR, who were on top in the first half, struggled after being pinned down at the back, with Walsh collecting Ben Sheef’s shot as the Welsh side threatened again.

Similar to the Rangers’ first goal, Madsen intercepted a loose pass at the other end, but this time he curled his shot wide of the far corner.

However, Madsen completed his goal with a perfect corner on the right, and veteran defender Cook headed home near the edge of the six-yard box.

Another corner kick from Madsen saw Cone head the ball against the bar, but Mbenge, who had already been shown a yellow card moments earlier, received a further yellow card and was sent off for a foul on Thomasson.

And the home crowd was stunned when, after Walsh palmed out a corner, Windass hooked the ball home and Rathbone brilliantly converted the point.

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QPR’s Julian Stephan:

“I think ending the game with 10 players in the final moments had a big impact on the end of the game.

“But we don’t want to just analyze the last five or six minutes. We need to analyze the game completely.

“We were very dominant in the first half and if we had been more efficient it would have been 2-0. If we had scored one more goal in the first half it could have been a different second half. That’s why we need to analyze the game completely.”

“We found a way to score the second goal and the game was under control at that point. And then, yeah, we found out what happened in the last four or five minutes.”

“Having one less player made Wrexham less physical. We know how physical they are so we wanted to reduce the number of crosses and it worked out really well. But in the last five minutes we were tired and with one less player we couldn’t keep up the press.”

Phil Parkinson of Wrexham:

“You saw how quickly we got the ball and got it back (after the tying goal in the second half).

“We smelled blood. You can feel it sometimes as a team. Their players were sent off, but I don’t know if that affected them, but I think we felt like we were the team with the best chance of winning.”

“Josh has shown incredible technique and as for Ollie, his goals per minute are probably tops in the league.

“The big thing for us was we had players out of the team who were expected to play. We felt the professionalism of the group gave us the win.

“Players are always unhappy when they are not in the team, but there was a sense of togetherness in the group and it showed in particular with Josh and Olly.

“It was tough out there. Probably the worst pitching in the division. To come away with three points is a big bonus for us.”