Wrexham (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Wrexham’s fairytale ride under Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney continued as they knocked Premier League Nottingham Forest out of the FA Cup with a dramatic 4-3 penalty shootout win on Friday. Arthur Okonko provided heroics worthy of a blockbuster movie with shootout saves from Igor Jesus and Omari after Josh Windass, Callum Doyle, George Thomason, and Jay Rodriguez all scored from the spot for Wrexham.
First-half goals from Liberato Cacace and Oliver Rathbone put Wrexham in charge. But Jesus pulled a goal back before Dominic Hyam’s diving header restored Wrexham’s two-goal lead with 16 minutes left. However, Forest substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi scored two excellent goals, including an 89th-minute equaliser, before Wrexham, with replays no longer a feature of the FA Cup, prevailed after extra time could not separate the sides.
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Welsh club Wrexham, who play in English competitions, have enjoyed three successive promotions since Reynolds and McElhenney bought the club in 2021. Wrexham, on a run of four successive Championship wins, kicked off against a much-changed Forest, with the priority for Sean Dyche’s men avoiding relegation from the lucrative top flight.
“The first half was completely unacceptable,” said Dyche. “I let the players know, and certainly some individuals will know, and they’ve got to look in the mirror at that side of things. But, the strangeness of football, I thought the players that came on in the second half were a credit, and we went on and looked like a Premier League side.”
In Friday’s other ties, League One Wigan, shock winners of the 2013 FA Cup, won 1-0 away to Championship play-off hopefuls Preston, with Port Vale — bottom of the third tier — beating fourth division Fleetwood by the same scoreline. Oxford, battling to avoid relegation from the Championship, needed penalties to see off Milton Keynes Dons 4-3 on penalties after being held to a 1-1 draw by the League Two side.
The third round of the FA Cup is the stage where teams from the Premier League and Championship, English football’s top two divisions, enter the world’s oldest senior knockout football competition. FA Cup-holders Crystal Palace are away to non-league Macclesfield on Saturday, when eight-time winners Tottenham Hotspur face Premier League rivals Aston Villa. Another all top-flight encounter is on Sunday when Manchester United face Brighton at Old Trafford in a repeat of the 1983 final that United won following a replay. Premier League leaders Arsenal are away to Championship strugglers Portsmouth on Sunday.
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