Stars of Disney TV Wrexham arrived at St Mary's with their Hollywood film star owners, but it was not a fairy tale ending for them as Saints stormed to a late late win, that was well deserved.

Wrexham's summer signings told you a lot about how they intend to set up this season, big strong and industrial, with 6 new signings in the starting line up including Conor Coady marshalling the troops at the back, you knew from early on that this would not be a pretty game.

The visitors tactics were quite simple, sit back and bang the ball long at every opportunity.

Saints started nervously and struggled to organise themselves when Wrexham broke away, they paid the price on 22 minutes when Keiffer Moore was left completely unmarked and through on goal, it was the slightest of touches from Ronnie Edwards, but Moore knew his job, the moment he felt the hand on his back he went down.

It was a penalty, a soft one, but you can't push someone in the box without expecting to concede a penalty, or can you ? apparently yes as referee James Bell failed to give Saints several clear penalties and throughout the game looked like he was trying to make sure he got a big part of the episode that features this game.

Saints were struggling to create clear chances and to be honest were lucky not to concede more than one as they kept leaving players unmarked, we truly lacked someone like Conor Coady to organise the defence.

The stats perhaps told the story of the first half and indeed the game, 75.1% possession

The second half had to be better and it started with Saints camped in the Wrexham half but still struggling to create clear chances, on the hour mark came what was hoped to change the game Matteus Fernandes joined the fray and so did Damion Downs.

But Wrexham were holding firm and on 72 minutes on came fresh legs in Archer & Manning, we were not holding back and now Wrexham were holding on, we should have had a penalty, Quarshie clearly had his shirt held as he went for a header, everyone in the ground could see the shirt being stretched so firmly was it held, everyone but the referee.

Ross Stewart on in the 80th minute meant we now had 4 attackers on the pitch, Will Still could not be accused of being too conservative.

But in the 88th it looked like the visitors might complete their smash & grab, Saints can't say the writing wasn't on the wall, Wrexham only had one tactic, it had taken a timely tackle by Jack Stephens who had managed to catch on breakaway earlier and in the final minute Ryan Hardie was through on goal and wasn't caught and it took a vital save from Gavin Bazunu to keep Saints in the game.

As Ryan Manning lined up a free kick in the 90th minute no one was expecting him to score, it was a long way out and no one could remember him taking one before, but score he did to seemingly earn us a draw.

With 6 minutes of injury time we pressed for the winner, but as the clock entered the last of those 6, it looked like we would have to settle for the draw, but up stepped Manning again, this time as the provider, he latched on to a long through ball down the left wing, cut inside his marker and put in a great low cross, Damion Downs couldn't get a touch and neither could his marker and it fell to Jack Stephens at the far post to fire in from close range, he almost missed, it went in off the bar, but it went in to sent the home fans wild.

So the fairy tale ending was for Saints and it was fully deserved, Wrexham looked a side that will be fighting relegation, well drilled and organised, but ultimately lacking quality, but they could well change that with a few new signings.

So what can we glean from this game, firstly that Will Still is a manager who will change his formation when needed and he is not afraid to gamble as he did in the final stages of this game.

In a game where the Disney pantomime came to town, Saints own pantomime villains became the heroes of the hour.

Gavin Bazunu has come under fire from some Saints supporters, but he put in a polished performance and his superb save at the end, meant we were still only a goal behind going into extra time, without that save we surely would have had the stuffing knocked out of us and lost the game.

Ryan Manning has struggled to win the fans over, not many argued with Welington being preferred on the left, but if anyone changed this game it was Manning with his free kick and surging run and cross for the winner.

Jack Stephens has too had his critics, in truth for much of the game we lacked leadership and organisation at the back so there was no change there, but he did make that timely tackle and he deserved to score that vital winner.

When all the excitement has died down though, Will Still has to take a long hard look at his squad and where he needs to strengthen, the number of times Wrexham broke through on goal was worrying and so was the number of chances they had where they were unmarked, on another day we could have been 2 or even 3 down.

Still has to address this, up at the other end Conor Coady showed what leadership and organisation can do, Wrexham had it and we didn't, two late goals papered over the cracks, but they are still there.

Up till the late show, for me Ryan Fraser was the best player in the side and at the heart of most of our attacks, it was good to see him back and with a spring in his step.

Jay Robinson was slightly disappointing for me, he seemed to flit in and out of the game, I don't blame him, I felt that he was in a difficult position to start against a team like Wrexham who had all of their team bar one behind the ball and leaving little room to create chances.

On reflection we would have been better bringing Jay off the bench , but I think Will Still's hand was forced by injuries and a lack of options.

The stats showed the domination we had, as mentioned 75% possession, 27 chances as opposed to the visitors 10 and 10 on target against Wrexham's 2, the second of which was in the final minute.

But there was still the feeling that we weren't firing on all cylinders.

But overall the main thing was to get 3 points from the game and get us up and running for the season and we did that, a little bit of deja vu from two years ago when Che Adams scored a late winner at Sheffield Wednesday.

Like then Will Still knows that his squad will change over the next 3 weeks or so, it will become clear who is staying and who is going and then he can bring in some new faces, so the games in August are not so much about performance, but getting points on the table.

This was an exciting way of doing it, but hopefully it won't be nerve wracking like this every week.

All Photos Via Reuters