Rubin Colwill's sensational last-minute equaliser saw the Bluebirds off the mark as they fought to a draw against Wrexham.
Jack Moylan made his first start in South Wales and Calum Scanlon went straight into the side having rejoined on loan over the weekend.
The away side has the better start of the two sides: City cleared a free-kick, before the second ball was played back towards Kieffer Moore who ran onto it and finished into the top of the net, giving the Red Dragons an early lead.
Wrexham followed with another early chance as the Bluebirds failed to clear their lines before Callum Doyle’s header forced a superb save from Nathan Trott to keep it at 1-0.
After weathering the early storm, City started to find their stride. Some neat play in the middle made space for Ollie Tanner to play a ball to Jack Moylan, but his effort cleared the crossbar.
Moments later Perry Ng went on a great run, linking up with Moylan. The ball was played into Cian Ashford but he couldn’t find space for a clear shot and in the end it was saved for Anthony Patterson.
Despite City having most of the ball the next biggest chance fell to Moore again. After consecutive corners he reached the ball and his header glanced off the Bluebirds crossbar.
Not too long afterwards a long ball caused trouble for City, as Danny Imray beat Scanlon to the ball and forced Trott into another huge save.
City had one final chance to end the first half level: a Joel Bagan corner made its way to Gabriel Osho his header was wide.
Wrexham started the second half strongly as Callum Doyle earned some space and Trott was forced to push it behind for a corner-kick.
The visitors continued their pressure with Nathan Broadhead having two chances. The first was well blocked by Bagan and the second was held by Trott.
City began to come back at Wrexham as the half progressed. Moylan played a neat pass towards Salech who was pulled down, earning the Bluebirds a free-kick in a dangerous position. Perry stepped up but couldn’t work it over the wall.
More chances started to fall for both sides, as Doyle had another opportunity following a corner but his well struck effort couldn’t beat the post.
City started to apply more pressure as the back-and-forth action continued. Moylan worked space brilliantly but his shot could only find the gloves of Patterson.
The Bluebirds had all the ball for the last 20 minutes but had to survive some late chances from the visitors, none of which were allowed to trouble Nathan Trott. City had a huge chance early in added time but a header was flicked just over following a deflection.
Deep into added time City looked destined to level when Ronan Kpakio’s cross had to be cleared from under the crossbar by Hyam.
City earned themselves a very late free-kick after Joel Colwill went down just outside the area. With six minutes of added time up it was to be the Bluebirds' last chance. CCS fell silent as Rubin stepped up and rifled one into the top left corner, sending the City faithful into delirium.
At the end of a battling performance against a defensively resolute opposition, it took a moment of magic from the City substitute to earn the Bluebirds a well-earned point on their return to the Sky Bet Championship.
CARDIFF CITY 1-1 WREXHAM
Cardiff City: Trott, Scanlon (Kpakio 80’), Osho, Bagan, Ng, Robertson (Robinson 80’), Moylan, Ashford (Davies 80’), Willock (J.Colwill 62’), Tanner (R.Collwill 62’), Salech. Unused Subs: Tyrer, Turnbull, Tankiewicz, Anyadike.
Wrexham: Patterson, Vyner, Hyam, Doyle, Imray (Longman 73’), James (Dobson 73’), O’Brien, Thomason, Rathbone (Whiteman 67’), Broadhead (Keilor-Dunn 72’), Moore (Smith 72’). Unused Subs: Ward, Cleworth, Scarr, Cadamarteri.