26th November: FA Cup 2nd Round: The Racecourse Ground: Wrexham AFC vs Farnborough FC
Today I took my blog to its first foreign country to find out who would win the non-league showdown at the Racecourse ground (The Cae Ras) and collect the prize of a place in the FA Cup 3rd round draw on Monday. One of the teams playing today was just 90 minutes from that draw, but which will make it there.
The teams fighting for this glorious prize were: In the red corner, Wrexham AFC who are top of the National League and looking destined for promotion: In the blue corner, Farnborough FC, lying 15th in the National League South in their first season after promotion to the division. Apart from that, I knew nothing about either team before kick-off except that Ryan Reynolds is one of the owners of Wrexham.
Being owned by Deadpool does raise a little expectation though so I was hoping for a home win as I settled into my seat, just 3 rows back from the pitch. Finding my seat wasn’t difficult but compared to finding the stadium it was a nightmare. The stadium sticks out like a sore thumb against the landscape as long as you turn right after ascending the steps out of the station. If you turn right and still can’t see the stadium, then may I suggest an eye test.
The Welsh are known for their sonorous nature and the songs that echoed round the ground before kick-off were truly spine-tingling. Once the match got underway the home players went about trying to match that atmosphere with the football they produced. It took a few minutes of ariel ping-pong for the game to settle down but as soon as the hosts got the ball on the deck, they set about dominating the match.
Despite their dominance of the game over the first 20 minutes the hosts from the land of song were unable to convert it into the goal their play deserved. Bill Shankly was once quoted as saying ‘If you’re not sure what to do with the ball, pop it in the net and we’ll discuss the options later’, sage advice that and Wrexham could really have done with being reminded of it whenever they entered the final third.
They were determined to over-complicate matters, and it wasn’t until the 21st minute that they sorted things out enough to get a shot on target. It came from a corner on the left that landed at the feet of Paul Mullin, in acres of space 16 yards from goal, but Turner rushed out of the Farnborough goal and was able to pull out a delicious double save to keep the scores level. Turner’s brilliance dug his defenders out of a huge hole there and if they had managed to get anything out of the game, he would have been owed rounds of drinks.
Wrexham kept battering on the door without success for the rest of the half, coming close again through Elliot Lee after a glorious team move of triangles before Lee curled it just over the bar from 20 yards. It looked to be heading for the top corner from my point until the second it shook the bar on its way behind. The effort of destroying their opponents for 35 minutes took its toll on the hosts and for the last 10 of the half it was the visitors who took charge, but they couldn’t keep the ball down and conversions aren’t what is called for in this sport.
There was one final sting in the half for the hosts though as Jordan Davies went down on the edge of his box and had to be stretchered off to rapturous applause. It’s never nice to see a player have to leave the pitch that way and I hope he isn’t out for long. For this match he was replaced by James Jones and Wrexham were provided with some excellent motivation for the 2nd half.
With this motivation in hand, it took just 3 minutes of the second half for the hosts to take the lead that their 1st half dominance deserved. The breakthrough came through local legend Paul Mullin, as a corner from the right was looped over to the back post for Mullin to slam home. His 50th in Wrexham red.
Now they had the lead it just seemed to be a simple matter of just how many the hosts would score. Unfortunately, this was not to be as Farnborough equalised completely against the run of play in the 62nd minute.
A free kick from just outside the area was floated over everyone and Howard’s despairing dive could only result in him palming the ball off the bar and drop it in the net behind him. Having secured a goal they had done nothing to earn, all Farnborough had to do next was hold on for the draw and then take their chances in the replay on home soil.
As the game ticked into its final 15 minutes it looked like they would get it too as Wrexham struggled against a resolute Farnborough defence. Given the defensive efforts of the visitors it seems only fair that it took a worldie of a shot for Wrexham to regain the lead. From a break down the right the ball was cut back to Elliot Lee on the edge of the box, unleashing a first-time volley he sent the ball careening towards the postage stamp area to the keeper’s left. The ball swished through the postage stamp to nestle in the back of the net.
This broke the last of Farnborough’s resistance as Wrexham’s Mullin completed his hat-trick with a double in the last 8 minutes of a match that died as a contest the second the hosts regained the lead. The first of Mullin’s final 2 goals resulted from a beautiful team move down the left before the ball was rolled onto a plate for him to steer home from 6 yards out in the centre of the 6-yard box. Turner in the Farnborough goal had been expecting a shot from the left leaving him decidedly flat-footed when the ball was squared instead.
Mullin’s hat-trick was completed in the 90th minute as he fired a shot across the keeper from the left and into the net just yards from the right post, after a cross from the right had been recycled out to him.
He should really have had a third and fourth goal wrapped up in quick succession 5 minutes before he finally completed his hat-trick though. Both times he found himself one on one with Turner after being slipped in down the right only to shank his shots high into the stands. For the first one he tried a fancy shot off the outside of his right boot, then followed it up on the second try by curling one into the same spot in the stands off his left instep.
Thankfully for Mullin neither of those misses mattered as the hosts ran out 4-1 winners at full-time, getting their name in the draw for the Third round in the process.
Wrexham are ball 46 in that draw at Anfield on Monday evening and will be hoping to draw the team who plays at that ground (ball 21) or a team of similar size and renown in one of England’s top two divisions. Not only would Klopp’s Liverpool be a glamour tie for the fans, but it would also provide their manager, Phil Parkinson, with the opportunity to once again pit his wits against the best teams in the United Kingdom.
On a personal note, I want them to be drawn away to Liverpool as it would give me the chance to get a ticket for a first team game of my boyhood team and the chance to see Wrexham play more of their silky football just a short bus ride from my flat.
Congratulations to Wrexham on making the FA Cup Third Round and thank you to the lady I met at the game who said, “since it’s your first game here, we have to win now for you”. Her team were as good as her word, and I look forward to seeing just how far they can go in the competition
The Football tourist 