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Long before the football started and Wrexham rediscovered a touch for giant-killing which they had lost somewhere along the way since Mickey Thomas did the job against Arsenal 31 years ago, a tweet told a story about the shifting fortunes in football.
Wrexham’s club’s Hollywood owners, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds were alerting the vast numbers who follow them to the ESPN transmission of this match, available to viewers from Sydney to Los Angeles. It goes without saying that a bitter night in the east Midlands would not have gone global before they arrived with their documentary crews.
For their own part, Coventry began this day with conjecture about who will want to own them next and where they play after eviction at the end of the season from this stadium, which is now a possession of Mike Ashley.
Wrexham have caused a huge upset in the FA Cup and will now advance to the fourth round
It turned out to be a night of FA Cup and documentary gold, with defensive calamity, occasional attacking inspiration and a breathless finale in which Coventry’s Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres waged a one-man mission to fashion an equaliser.
It was Third Round tie for the ages. Another reminder of the precious quality of this weekend in the calendar.
The driver of one of the nine coaches which rolled up from North Wales told passengers they would leave ‘15 minutes after we’ve won.’
The 4,000 away contingent, whose ticket allocation had sold out within minutes, outnumbered and, for the most part, out-sang the locals.
Coventry manager Mark Robins said last night that he had never experienced an atmosphere like it here. His opposition number, Phil Parkinson, said it had made his players feel ‘ten feet tall.’
That’s what care, attention and serious investment from owners can do for a club. The latter commodity meant that this was Championship v League One match-up in many ways – because that’s where Wrexham have done some of their best recruiting – not a tie between two clubs 60 places and three divisions apart.
It helped that Coventry’s defence was so feckless. Robins said afterwards that he had ‘never been so embarrassed’ by the defensive performance his side offered for the first hour of the game.
It allowed Wrexham to score twice in six minutes whilst barely breaking sweat. Sam Dalby stepped between two central defenders to head home. Elliott Lee wasn’t even trying to score when despatching a hopeful ball from the left sailed past goalkeeper Simon Moore, who was transfixed.
Wrexham’s state of mind contributed, too. ‘We had the belief to pass the ball ourselves, which was great for us to see,’ Parkinson reflected afterwards
Coventry lost forward Fabio Tavares to a ruptured achilles, which will need surgery, though Robins’ decision to field eight second string players was questionable.
Sam Dalby opened the scoring for Wrexham when he rose highest to head a cross home
It was 33 years to the day since he had scored Manchester United’s legendary in the Third Round away win at Nottingham Forest. He knows the value of this day.
His frustration was compounded by the fact that his forwards had a counter-attacking pace seriously troubling to Wrexham and their defence, which tends to look vulnerable when central pillar Aaron Hayden is missing. Kasey Palmer, the former Chelsea player, was excellent – striking a free kick against the base of the post before delivering a cross which Martyn Waghorn’s touch set up Ben Sheaf to crash home and pull a goal back.
The game seemed gone by the hour mark as Ben Tozer’s long throw, a big part of the team’s attacking threat in the National League, twice induced panic in Coventry.
Thomas O’Connor restored Wrexham’s two goal advantage when he made it 3-1 for his side
Tom O’Connor, capitalised on the first occasion, leaping to head in Wrexham’s third. Max Cleworth struck at a loose ball on the second occasion which Jonathan Panzon deliberately handled and was so sent off. Mullin converted from the spot.
Coventry improved with ten men and provided a thrilling finish. Palmer delivered a cross from which substitute Gyokeres scored, then won a free kick which he arced in, with goalkeeper Mark Howard rooted to the spot. Howard palmed over from Todd Kane at the death
Somewhere amid the mayhem, the ESPN feed of the game briefly went down. ‘What’s happening? tweeted a plaintive McElhenney. From LA to Sydney and all points in between, it was well worth the watch.
Wrexham managed to hold on after Coventry made it 4-3 and climbed back into the game