Wrexham AFC - FA Cup first round: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The FA Cup conjures up memories of Arsenal in ’92, Brighton away in 2012 or going a goal up away to Stoke City in the Kevin Wilkin era.
But there have also been nightmares - we’re looking at you, Crewe Alexandra.
Ahead of this Sunday’s first round proper match against Oldham Athletic - which will be live on ITV in the UK and on ESPN in the United States - RobRyanRed picks out the good, the bad and the ugly of our first round appearances.
GOOD
Wrexham 1-0 Stockport (1994-95)
ATT: 4,748
Brian Flynn’s Wrexham against Danny Bergara’s County - always a brilliant occasion and with more than 1,000 Stockport fans making the short trip it was a nip-and-tuck game.
It took a piece of magic from Steve Watkin, sent on from the bench by Flynn in place of Jonathan Cross, and it was his goal 10 minutes from time that was the difference.
Watkin’s goal kickstarted a run that took Wrexham all the way to the fourth round when Manchester United flexed their muscles to send the Dragons home.
Here’s that fourth round meeting with Manchester United - for those who are in the mood for misery…
Hayes 0-4 Wrexham (2004-05)
ATT: 1,751
Denis Smith took his side to Church Road in 2004 for round one and it was an attacking clinic.
There were plenty of worries - financially - at the time but you wouldn’t have known it from this ruthless display in front of goal, with Hector Sam among the scorers.
Sam turned provider to get Wrexham off the mark 17 minutes in when his pull back was swept in by Andy Holt. From there Wrexham went for the jugular as Dennis Lawrence made it 2-0 before a Sam header made it 3-0. Chris Llewellyn bagged seven minutes from time to complete the rout.
Short-lived cup success, mind you, as Scunthorpe United dumped us out in round two.
Wrexham 3-0 Woking (2014-15)
ATT: 2,253
A first half demolition job did the trick here with Neil Ashton, Wes York and Andy Bishop all striking before the interval to take this tie away from Woking.
Bishop stood out among the rest as he won the 19th-minute penalty for Ashton to convert before he picked out York with a cross to make it 2-0. He then deservedly added a goal of his own.
Woking went into the game five league places above Wrexham so it was an impressive dissection.
‘I was just amazed by the cheapness of the goal and that killed us off,’ a fuming Garry Hill said of his Woking side.
Easy street.
BAD
Wrexham 0-2 Darlington (2002-03)
ATT: 3,442
This one could have been so different had Brian Carey’s first half header not been cleared off the line, but alas, it wasn’t to be.
There was an expectant crowd at the Racecourse as a Darlington side that were on the ropes of survival in the Football League came to town.
And trust a former Wrexham player - Neil Wainwright - to be the difference maker. Salt in wounds.
Wainwright set up the opening goal early in the second half when his cross from the left found Barry Conlon three yards out. Easy header. 1-0.
Wainwright was again involved to ice the game when his free-kick picked out the head of Craig Liddle and bang, 2-0.
Boos echoed around the ground at full-time and Smith was raging.
‘We haven't even gone out with a whimper,’ he fumed. ‘This is the FA Cup and you don't get many chances to play in this competition. They played with passion while we were just very, very poor.’
Rubbish day all round.
Cambridge 2-2 Wrexham (2011-12)
ATT: 2,792
This was irritating more than anything else.
Andy Morrell, then our player-manager, nodded us in front in the 20th minute thanks to a brilliant ball from Lee Fowler.
Josh Coulson levelled for the hosts before Morrell was on hand to strike again, putting us back in front.
And so when Coulson struck in stoppage time when it looked like we had safe passage to round two secured it was a bitter pill to swallow.
Joslain Mayebi in the Wrexham goal won’t want to see that second Coulson goal again. One to forget.
UGLY
Wrexham 2-4 Alfreton (2012-13)
ATT: 2,409
Mayebi is back and this time a moment of complete madness cost us dear.
Before we get to how this game was thrown away one of the main memories was of the line markings on the pitch for the rugby that had been played not long before. Absolutely bizarre watching on.
Anyway, the match, and in fairness it started well when Neil Ashton’s second-minute penalty put us 1-0 up.
If we’re being honest it’s a soft penalty on Danny Wright but who cares? Not us.
It unravelled from there when in the 27th minute a speculative free-kick from Josh Law was spilled erroneously by Mayebi and Paul Clayton was afforded a tap-in.
The second half is a bit of a blur now but Mayebi was shown a straight red card for an elbow on Lee Franks. Penalty.
Dan Bradley converted past substitute goalkeeper Andy Coughlin before two Ben Tomlinson goals, either side of one by Wright in the 85th minute sealed victory.
Weirdly this still glosses over the fact Bradley and Tomlinson were both sent off by the time the final whistle went. A truly ridiculous occasion.
‘Joslain (Mayebi) then goes and does something to change the game. It’s crazy and that kills us,’ a fuming Morrell said afterwards.
‘I can’t talk about the ref, because I’ll get in trouble. He was equally bad for both teams but he didn’t cost us the game. We did.’
Crewe Alexandra 6-1 Wrexham (1992-93)
ATT: 5,556
This was a complete and utter hammering, fair play.
Crewe were a good side, don’t get us wrong, but they toyed with us in front of more than 5,500 fans at Gresty Road. A chastening display for Flynn and his players.
Craig Hignett produced one of his career-best performances with four goals of Crewe’s six.
Down 2-0 at half-time the game was far from over but by the time Gary Bennett scored a consolation goal we were already 4-0 down and buried.
David McKearney bagged the other two for the hosts and it’s just a scarring experience a season on from the highs of beating Arsenal.
If you’re glutton for punishment you can watch the full match here… (why is this existing on the internet?!)
