Chelsea reach FA Cup quarter-finals with 4-2 extra-time win over Wrexham
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Chelsea's Joao Pedro (No. 20) celebrating with Alejandro Garnacho as Marc Guiu arrives to join in after Pedro scored the Blues' fourth goal to seal their 4-2 FA Cup fifth-round win at Wrexham on March 7.
PHOTO: AFP
WREXHAM – Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior admitted his team survived a scare before beating an “outstanding” Wrexham side in the FA Cup on March 7.
Alejandro Garnacho and Joao Pedro struck in extra time to secure a nervy 4-2 win over their second-tier opponents and a place in the quarter-finals, as the English Premier League giants escaped from the Racecourse Ground after a tough battle.
“Not the best performance. Really, really difficult game, which we knew it would be. Wrexham were outstanding. I’m just delighted we’re through in the end,” said Rosenior.
“That’s every reason why the FA Cup is what it is. I think they were magnificent. Magnificent in their energy, and how brave they were in the press, and how they played. Then we had to be at a high, high level. We were pushed all the way by a very good team.
Chelsea’s Alejandro Garnacho scoring their third goal to put the Blues 3-2 up against Championship side Wrexham in the 96th minute of their FA Cup clash on March 7.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“You’ve got to show character as well... what the players are showing me is a really good spirit and a belief and a determination to win games of football, which we’re going to need for the rest of the season.”
Garnacho volleyed home from close range in the 96th minute with such force that the ball ricocheted off the back stanchion to give Chelsea the lead for the first time on the night.
Wrexham – who lost George Dobson to a red card in stoppage time after 90 minutes – thought they had equalised six minutes before the end of extra time when Lewis Brunt headed home but he was offside.
Pedro sealed the Blues’ hard-fought win with a close-range shot in the 125th minute.
Sam Smith had fired the Championship side ahead on 18 minutes when he calmly slotted home after being put through on goal. Chelsea levelled the score with a huge slice of luck when George Thomason’s attempt to clear Garnacho’s shot struck goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo and rolled in.
Wrexham led again after 78 minutes when Callum Doyle diverted a shot from Josh Windass past Blues custodian Robert Sanchez. But Josh Acheampong equalised soon after with a shot into the roof of the net, sending the game into extra time.
Eight-time FA Cup winners Chelsea, who are fifth in the Premier League, were coming off a 4-1 thrashing of Aston Villa in the top flight on March 4 and Rosenior made nine changes to that team.
Wrexham were keen to add another glittering milestone to their remarkable rise since Hollywood A-listers Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds purchased the Welsh team in 2021.
Following three straight promotions, the Red Dragons are now among the play-off spots in sixth place in the Championship as they bid to reach the Premier League. They had dispatched top-tier side Nottingham Forest on penalties in the third round of the FA Cup in January.
But it was not to be on March 7 and the smiling pair of McElhenney and Reynolds gave their players well-deserved applause after a game that saw Wrexham narrowly miss numerous chances, including a shot that Lewis O’Brien bent just wide of the post late on.
“Immensely proud of the boys tonight,” manager Phil Parkinson said. “I thought we acquitted ourselves really well. It was a tight game, which is a credit to us for that.
“We’ve got to be pleased with the pressing, the work, the discipline, but also some of the football we played.
“We carried a threat tonight. We didn’t just come here tonight to stop Chelsea. We knew we could play and we really did at times.” REUTERS, AFP
