For Wrexham’s Hollywood owners, the sequel turned out to be a heartbreaker.
The Welsh football club owned by celebrities Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney lost its FA Cup replay with Sheffield United 3-1 on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), conceding two goals deep into stoppage time.
Paul Mullin misses a penalty for Wrexham, having scored from the spot earlier in the game.Credit:AP
A win for Wrexham, who had been the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition, would have set up a match in the last 16 with Premier League giants Tottenham and star striker Harry Kane.
Instead, it was despair for the team from the fifth tier of English football. They had a chance to lead 2-1 late in the second half, but star striker Paul Mullin missed a penalty after scoring from the spot earlier in the game to make it 1-1. Billy Sharp and Sander Berge then struck late goals to seal the win for the Championship side.
“So proud of these boys,” Reynolds, a Canadian actor best known for starring in the Deadpool movies, posted to his 21.1 million followers on Twitter. “And the 4000 plus away supporters who gave it all.”
Wrexham owners Rob McElhenney, left, and Ryan Reynolds.Credit:FX
McElhenney, an American actor and director who was the creator of TV show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, tweeted: “I could not be more proud of those men than I am right now. They gave it absolutely everything.”
It was another thrill-a-minute match between the teams, giving Reynolds and McElhenney plenty of material for their behind-the-scenes TV series Welcome To Wrexham. United forced a replay by scoring an equaliser in the fifth minute of stoppage time in the first game, which ended 3-3 at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground.
Wrexham have a history of producing shocks in the FA Cup, having beaten then-English champions Arsenal in the third round in 1992 when playing in the fourth tier. They reached the quarter-finals in the 1996-97 season when they were in the third tier.
United striker Sharp said after the game he had been annoyed by the conduct of Wrexham, suggesting the team 72 places lower in the English pyramid had already been looking forward to playing Tottenham in the next round.
“I am glad we’ve beaten them,” Sharp said. “The way they’ve been as a club before the game, eyeing up Spurs … They had not even beaten us. They thought we would just roll over.”
Wrexham have hit the headlines over the past two years after they were bought by Reynolds and McElhenney for $2.5 million in November 2020 on the recommendation of one of their writers. Reynolds attended the first game against the Blades but wasn’t at the replay at Bramall Lane.
Elsewhere, League Two’s Grimsby Town produced the cup upset of the night after beating Championship promotion contenders Luton Town 3-0 in their replay at Blundell Park. In the other replays, Burnley overcame Ipswich 2-1 and Fleetwood beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-0.
