No Hollywood ending for Wrexham as Sheffield United win FA Cup thriller
Non-league club concede two stoppage-time goals in 3-1 defeat
Wrexham and their Hollywood owners’ FA Cup dream came to an end on Tuesday after the Welsh non-league club conceded two stoppage-time goals in a 3-1 defeat at Sheffield United in their fourth-round replay.
Owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, fifth-tier National League side Wrexham were the lowest-ranked team left in the competition but late goals from Billy Sharp and Sander Berge gave Sheffield United the win at Bramall Lane.
Wrexham had been on the brink of a famous victory over the Championship (second-tier) side in the original tie at the Racecourse Ground before United scored late on to salvage a 3-3 draw.
Penalty saved
On Tuesday, Wrexham’s Paul Mullin scored a 59th-minute penalty to cancel out Anel Ahmedhodzic’s opener and had another spot kick saved in the 72nd minute when the score was still 1-1.
“So proud of these boys. And the 4,000 plus away supporters who gave it all,” Reynolds, of ‘Deadpool’ fame, wrote on Twitter.
McElhenney, the creator and star of sitcom ‘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.” United will take on Tottenham Hotspur in the fifth round.
Wrexham, who earlier eliminated second-tier Coventry City, have a history of producing FA Cup shocks, knocking out then-English champions Arsenal in 1992 and reaching the quarter-finals in 1997 after beating West Ham United.