Newcastle The Lure As Dragons Earn Replay

FA Cup 4th Round
Brighton & Hove Albion/Wrexham	v	Newcastle United
Sunderland	v	Middlesbrough
Dagenham/Southampton	v	Millwall
Hull City	v	Crawley Town
MK Dons/Queens Park Rangers	v	Chelsea
West Bromwich Albion	v	Norwich City
Blackpool	v	Sheffield Wednesday
Arsenal/Leeds United	v	Aston Villa
Stevenage	v	Notts County
Watford	v	Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool	v	Manchester United
Derby County	v	Stoke City
Everton	v	Fulham
Macclesfield/Bolton	v	Swansea City
Sheffield United	v	Birmingham City/Wolves
Nottingham Forest/Leicester City	v	Swindon Town

Wrexham are now the sole non league survivors in this year’s FA Cup after they followed up their heroic efforts at Brentford in the 2nd Round with an even better performance to earn the Dragons a replay against Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion.  Whilst Wrexham were continuing their remarkable recent run of form with a 1-1 draw at the Falmer Stadium (currently known as the American Express Community Stadium), conference promotion rivals Fleetwood Town were being thrashed by local rivals Blackpool and Tamworth and Salisbury were being eliminated by Everton and Sheffield United respectively, despite hugely creditable performances.

A remarkable 2,029 fans making the journey from North Wales down to the south coast for the encounter, which even beat the official number of 1,801 Dragons fans (there were a few more reportedly in the home stands) that made the short journey to Telford for the Boxing Day encounter.  With a bumper attendance of nearly 6,000 at the Racecourse Ground sandwiched in between these away trips for the New Year’s Day encounter with Telford, the financial situation at Wrexham is undoubtedly looking considerably brighter.  It will be boosted yet further should Wrexham manage to beat Brighton in the replay after the winners of the tie were given a home draw against Newcastle United.

Home advantage in front of a vociferous and partisan crowd will give Wrexham a chance of producing what would arguably the biggest upset in the FA Cup this season.  However, much may also depend upon the team selection of Brighton manager Gus Poyet, who has threatened to play an entire second team in the replay.  Whilst Brighton fielded a strong team for the tie on Saturday, there were still six changes, including two debutants, from the side that had beaten Southampton a few days earlier.  Wrexham, in contrast, made only one change from the team that comprehensively beat Telford and that was an enforced one. With Danny Wright still not having recovered from injury, player-manager Andy Morrell came in to lead the forward line as a direct replacement for Mathias Pogba (pictured below), who was forced to miss the game with an ankle injury.

Illustration of Wrexham forward Mathias Pogba, courtesy of Tim Bye (please see Tim Bye Caricatures link for more of his work)

In cup ties such as this, where the club from the lower division is playing away from home, it is often important that the minnows start well and score first.  However, an error by Wrexham goalkeeper Joslain Mayebi nearly handed Brighton the advantage in the opening exchanges.  Lua Lua was unable to make the most of the opportunity though and Wrexham slowly eased their way into the game.

In an open game, Wrexham were able to create a few opportunities of their own, with Speight in particular causing problems for the Brighton defence.  However, having successfully reached half time with the scores level, Wrexham then conceded almost immediately after the break as Forster-Caskey netted from a Lua Lua cross.  Despite the setback though, Wrexham fought their way back into the game, securing a replay through Adrian Cieslewicz’s 62nd minute equaliser.

Whilst the Wrexham fans now bask in the glory of their relative success against Brighton, and the possibility of playing an even weaker Albion team next week, Fleetwood will turn their attention to overhauling Wrexham at the summit of the conference.  Town play at home to Barrow on Tuesday evening knowing that a win will take them to the summit of the Conference, whilst Wrexham have to wait until Saturday before they play away at Tamworth.  With Newcastle potentially waiting for them in Round 4 and an impervious defence that even Championship sides are struggling to break down, Wrexham will be confidence that any ascendency gained by Fleetwood will be short lived.

How do you think Wrexham will fair against Tamworth on Saturday.  Vote for the Welsh teams you think will win on the poll to the left of this post.

FA Cup Tie Brings Back Thomas Memories

 

            FA Cup

      3rd Round

   7 January 2012

 

 

Over the last few seasons a lot of attention has been given in the media to the diminishing importance of the FA Cup.  Attendances at the bigger clubs in the earlier stages of the competition are generally considerably lower than average league gates and many sides, including those from the lower reaches of the Premiership and the summit of the Championship, have succumbed to the temptation to rest key players on what was traditionally the most exciting day of the footballing calendar.

However, speak to anyone from Wrexham about their FA Cup 3rd Round tie at Championship side Brighton and Hove Albion and the main reaction is one of excitement and anticipation.  Indeed for older supporters, the tie has brought back memories of the famous 1992 3rd Round cup tie between Wrexham and Arsenal at the Racecourse, when Mickey Thomas smashed a last minute free kick from the edge of the penalty box into the top left corner of the Arsenal goal to prepare the way for one of the great cup upsets.

Despite the importance of retaining their focus on promotion to the football league, which is still anything but guaranteed despite Wrexham enjoying one of their finest ever seasons.  A comprehensive 4-0 victory over AFC Telford on New Year’s Day was their fifth successive win in the league, a feat they have accomplished no less than three times this season, and yet the Dragons have still only got a two point cushion over nearest rivals Fleetwood Town.  Fleetwood produced a sensational performance to demolish Southport 6-0 despite playing the entire second half with 10 men after striker Richard Brodie was sent off in the 32nd minute.

There are two main reasons why Wrexham want to focus their attention on the FA Cup as well as the league.  The first, as manager Andy Morrell acknowledges, is that it helps to raise the profile of the club, and with that potentially its income, particularly with the Brighton tie marking the 20th anniversary of the Arsenal win.  This has been exemplified by the arrival of the BBC cameras and the recreation of the Mickey Thomas goal on the Colliers Park training ground, along with the traditional media captivation with 3rd Round Goliath and David ties. 

The second reason, though, is that there is a genuine feeling in Wrexham that they can cause an upset.  Whilst Brighton were on a relatively poor run of form prior to their victory over Championship leaders Southampton on Monday, Wrexham are becoming renowned for an almost invincible defence.  The last 14 league matches have seen the Dragons keep 11 clean sheets and concede a miserly 3 goals.  Only Darlington and Gateshead (twice) have managed to breach the Wrexham defence during this period, which stretches back to the start of October, and on all three occasions that Wrexham did actually concede, they still won.  In addition to this, they also knocked decent York and Cambridge sides out of the FA Cup before producing one of the biggest upsets of this year’s competition with a 1-0 victory at League 1 Brentford.

Whilst Wrexham may currently be plying their trade in the Conference Premier Division, the club have the potential to be playing at a much higher level.  The club took almost 2,000 fans to AFC Telford on Boxing Day and then produced a bumper home crowd of almost 6,000 for the return fixture on New Year’s Day.  That level of support makes them the second best supported club in the Conference after Luton Town and the magic of the FA Cup means that Wrexham will be taking even more to Brighton than they did to Telford with confirmation on the Wrexham fans website RedPassion that over 2,000 tickets had been sold.

Whilst Brighton should have enough to get through this tie, Wrexham will put up a strong challenge and, if refereeing decisions and luck go their way, the Dragons might just have a chance of reliving the Arsenal upset of 20 years ago.

Prediction: Brighton & Hove Albion 2 Wrexham 1

Do you agree with the prediction? Why not answer the poll on the left hand side of this page and give your view on which Welsh sides will make the 4th Round.