Wrexham continued their push for a fourth successive promotion as they held on for a hard-fought 2-1 win over Portsmouth in the Sky Bet Championship.
The Red Dragons looked on course for a comfortable victory as Sam Smith and Max Cleworth headed home in the first half at Stok Cae Ras.
Pompey pulled a goal back through Zak Swanson as they rallied in the second half but, despite applying considerable pressure, were unable to find an equaliser.
After moving back into the play-off places with a frenetic 5-3 victory over promotion rivals Ipswich, and with an FA Cup tie against Chelsea to come, there is much excitement about Wrexham at present.
That was not necessarily evident in this contest as Phil Parkinson's men began to look leggy and laboured after a bright start but, with another three points, momentum is continuing to build in their favour.
They threatened to take an early lead when George Dobson fired wide in the first minute but Portsmouth also made a determined start against their in-form hosts.
Pompey's Millenic Alli put in a couple of dangerous low crosses and Gustavo Caballero had a shot blocked before leading another charge that broke down on the edge of the area.
Wrexham settled and Josh Windass dragged a shot wide from distance as they began to take control.
They opened the scoring after 23 minutes as Smith leapt high in the box to head home powerfully from a Callum Doyle cross.
Smith went close to adding a second with a superb long-range strike that goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid did well to turn over.
They doubled their lead from the resulting corner as Cleworth rose to turn in Dobson's cross.
Pompey responded and served warning before the break as Swanson curled an effort wide.
That signalled a change in momentum and Swanson pulled one back in the 49th minute as he latched onto Regan Poole's pass and beat Arthur Okonkwo with a shot that took a deflection off Doyle.
The visitors continued to push and won a series of corners as Wrexham struggled to get out of their own half but the Welsh side held firm.
Wrexham could have made victory more comfortable as Oliver Rathbone hit a post and George Thomason tested Schmid in a late flurry but they had already done enough.
Wrexham's Phil Parkinson:
"The energy levels weren't quite where we needed to be. We've had a bit of illness in the camp over the last few days but we just dug deep as a team.
"When you're not quite at your best, and you're not functioning quite how we like, you have to show another side to your game and I felt we did that.
"Sam was really good in that first half. He was one of the lads who had a stomach bug and he was struggling at half-time.
"I said 'Come on, Sam, another 15 minutes'. He's been brilliant for us, ever since he's been here. That's a real old-fashioned striker's header, a great finish.
"I thought we were excellent first half. We really bossed the game.
"Second half we didn't quite get the control we wanted but sometimes football is about finding a way to win and we've done that really well.
"We dug deep and it's a great win."
Portsmouth's John Mousinho:
"The old cliche - a game of two halves. I thought we completely dominated the second half but gave ourselves too much of a mountain to climb.
"We were really disappointed with the first goal and the second goal was obviously a set-piece that stemmed from a foul, and the less we talk about that the better.
"I thought there some really poor officiating for the whole night.
"If it had been 1-0 at half-time the outcome would probably have been different."
