Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds has spoken of his pride after his side’s performance against Chelsea. Reynolds and Rob McElhenney watched on from the stands at the Racecourse Ground as their side gave Liam Rosenior’s men one almighty scare in their fifth-round FA Cup tie.

A fortuitous own goal allowed the Stamford Bridge club to draw level just before the break after Sam Smith had given the hosts an early lead. An upset then looked on the cards when Callum Doyle restored Phil Parkinson’s side’s lead 12 minutes from time.

But it wasn’t to be for Wrexham as Josh Acheampong levelled for a second time and Alejandro Garnacho and Joao Pedro secured Chelsea’s quarter-final spot in extra time after the hosts had George Dobson sent off following a VAR review towards the end of normal time.

Wrexham then thought they might force penalties when Lewis Brunt found the net at 3-2, but the effort was ruled out for offside following a VAR review. And taking to X on Saturday night, Reynolds reflected: “Three years ago this week, we battled Maidenhead United to a draw. Today we pushed Chelsea to extra time. So incredibly proud of Wrexham’s performance today.”

And a proud Phil Parkinson said post-match: “The lads have been immense. Of course the dressing room is quiet, which you’d expect after a defeat, but when we wake up tomorrow, the lads can be immensely proud – and the supporters will be – of the way we’ve played.

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“Everybody knows that 11 v 10 in extra time, when so much energy has been used, is a difficult ask. But we said there would be a moment and there nearly was with the disallowed goal. I think we deserved, at the very least, to go to penalties, but some big calls went against us.”

While Chelsea boss Rosenior admitted his side got lucky, saying: “‘That was every reason why the FA Cup is what it is Wrexham were magnificent in their energy and how brave they were with their press and how they played. We had to be at a high level.

"We were pushed all the way by a very good team. We need to find a way to manage games better, but in these cup ties you can feel the emotion of the game. They’re very difficult games to play in.

"We went 1-0 down early against Aston Villa, we were 2-0 down at half-time against West Ham, we have to find a way not to be in that position, but what the players are showing me, no matter who is on the pitch, is a really good spirit and belief and a determination to win games of football.

"Now we need to keep working, we need to recover because we’ve got a big game on Wednesday and we need to start preparing for that."

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