Rio Ngumoha second-half strike was enough to hand Liverpool the spoils over Wrexham in a tightly-contested pre-season friendly in New York.

Ryan Reynolds was in attendance and, like Phil Parkinson, will likely have been pleased by the way his side battled against a Liverpool side missing several stars.

But, after seeing off Manchester United and Leeds United during their time in the United States, Andoni Iraola’s side just proved too much for the Championship side.

Chances were largely at a premium for much of the night, but Liverpool certainly started the brighter.

Wrexham goalkeeper Danny Ward, starting against his former club, got down to deny Josh Abe early on, while Lewis Koumas also fired wide in the opening exchanges.

Wrexham have had some promising moments of their own, with Sam Smith and Callum Doyle having half-chances inside the opening 20 minutes.

Doyle sent a header straight at goalkeeper Giorgi Marmadashvili just before the break, but Liverpool regained their momentum shortly after the interval.

Ward got down to deny Harvey Elliott, after both sides had made changes at the break, and was also tested by Dominik Szobozlai.

Further changes were made by both sides shortly after the hour, with one of them handing Liverpool the lead 15 minutes from time.

Ngumoha weaved his way into the box, before his shot was deflected over the substitute goalkeeper Callum Burton and into the net.

Kieffer Moore fired over a good chance late on, but Liverpool would see out the win.

Wrexham bring the curtain down on their tour of the US by taking on Sunderland in Philadelphia this weekend.

Wrexham: Ward (Burton 63); Vyner (Cleworth 63), Scarr (Hyam 63), Doyle (Brunt 63), Longman (A. James 63), M. James (Dobson 63), O’Brien (Moore 63), Thomason (Cacace 63), Keillor-Dunn (Cadamarteri 63), Rathbone (Ashfield 46), Smith (Broadhead 63)

Subs n/u: Barnett

Liverpool: Marmardashvili (Davies 76); Kerkez (Tsimikas 46) Szoboszlai (Sonni-Lambie 76), Elliott (McConnell 63), Abe (Abe 46), Nyoni (Morrison 46), Chambers (Ndiaye 76), Ramsay (Frimpong 63), Scanlon (Ngumoha 46), Koumas (Wright 63), Ndukwe

Subs n/u: Woodman