Wrexham FA Cup 3rd Round (A) 09/01/26

Wrexham 3-3 Nottingham Forest

Wrexham win 4-3 on Pens

Cacace 37'                Igor Jesus 64'

Rathbone 40'           Hudson-Odoi 76',89'

Hyam 74'

Last season, Forest’s FA Cup run was magical. They confidently defeated Luton in the third round before beating Exeter, Ipswich and Brighton on penalties. These results saw the Reds take a trip to Wembley to face Man City in the semi-final. Unfortunately, it didn’t click for Forest that day and they were knocked out. In the hopes to recreate this run and maybe even go further in the competition, they were drawn away to Championship side Wrexham.

Both sides had entered the competition at the same time as the third round is when both Premier League and Championship teams enter the tournament. In their respective leagues, Forest went on a four game winless run before winning an important relegation showdown at the London Stadium to pull seven points clear of relegation. Sean Dyche made eight changes from this game to rest some key players. Phil Parkinson made four changes from their last game against Forest’s East Midlands rivals, Derby County, where the Red Dragons won 2-1. Reds’ fans would be glad that Kieffer Moore was unavailable through injury.

As expected, Forest dominated the opening of the game. They thought they had taken the lead after 15 minutes through Douglas Luiz but the match officials disallowed the goal after deciding the midfielder had used his arm to bring down the ball before finishing past Okonkwo. The rest of the half continued with Forest controlling the possession and getting into good areas but they weren’t direct enough, creating very few chances. The Reds didn’t look like conceding either but as the first half drew to a close, the hosts found an opening. Forest looked to get themselves up the field but Hutchinson played for a foul on the edge of the ‘d’. The referee wasn’t interested so Cacace picked up the loose ball and drove towards goal before shooting from 20 yards out to find the bottom left corner. Sels might’ve saved the shot if it wasn’t for the deflection off Morato’s heel.

Things got from bad to worse for the visitors just three minutes later. Wrexham won the ball back deep into Forest’s half and got themselves up the field. Broadhead ended up with the ball and passed to Rathbone in the box. He turned back towards goal to try and get a shot off. Morato put a tackle in to try and poke the ball away from Rathbone’s feet but the ball bobbled off both of them and luckily landed back into the Englishman’s path. He took on the shot from around ten yards and found the bottom right corner.

In first half injury time, Wrexham almost completely killed the game. Forest had won a free kick in Wrexham’s half but Zinchenko passed the dead ball straight to Rathbone. As the Reds were all set up in their opposition’s half, Rathbone passed to striker Smith and he was straight in behind. Running through on goal, one-on-one, he looked certain to score but Sels came to his side’s rescue and saved the shot with his legs.

The Forest faithful let their voices be heard by the players and coaching staff at halftime as they made their way down the tunnel. Dyche may have agreed with this disappointment as he made three halftime substitutions. The Reds three ‘biggest fighters’ (Dominguez, Gibbs-White and Williams) were all introduced after the break. Their impact was showing immediately as Forest looked a completely different side. Dominguez and Gibbs-White were finding space in the pockets which caused Wrexham real issues. They had to be patient to find a goal back but they did get it just after the hour mark. Savona made an unmarked run to the byline which was found by Hutchinson before the Italian lofted the ball into the box where Igor Jesus was there to head home.

The visitors continued to push for an equaliser as their Premier League quality was finally showing but they were pegged back by a set-piece, a constant theme of this season. Dobson whipped in a delightful ball from the left which was met at the back post by the diving header of Hyam and into the back of the net. Wrexham’s elation from thinking they had once again taken the game away from the Reds was short lived as Hudson-Odoi pulled one back. Hutchinson skipped past Thomason on the right before driving towards the byline and putting in a low cross. No Wrexham defender could clear at the front post so it landed to Hudson-Odoi on the penalty spot to fire home first time into the bottom right corner.

The nerves could be felt from the home fans around the SToK Cae Ras but as the game drew closer to the final whistle, they must’ve thought they could hold on. However, Hudson-Odoi had different plans, finding an equaliser in the last minute of the 90. From the right, Savona whipped a ball into the area. Hudson-Odoi chested it before side-footing it on the volley beautifully over the ‘keeper and into the net. The game was headed to extra time.

Being the side with the better quality substitutes, you would’ve thought Forest would take the game to the hosts in extra time. However, the best and only real chance of the half an hour fell to Wrexham. From kick-off in the second period of extra time, the ball was played long up top to Windass. Morato stook a foot in the air to try and clear the ball but he played it straight into Windass’ path. The midfielder bought the ball down with his thigh but before he could get a proper shot off, Sels rushed out and blocked the ball. As neither side could find a late breakthrough, we were headed to penalties.

Both Windass and Gibbs-White scored their penalties for their respective sides. After McClean fired Wrexham’s second spot kick over the bar, Igor Jesus had the chance to capitalise. However, his effort was saved by Okonkwo. Both Doyle and Hudson-Odoi scored their penalties to make the shootout 2-2. Once again, both sides found the net as Thomason and Williams scored. Rodriguez scored his penalty as Sels stayed rooted to the spot, putting pressure on Hutchinson to score to keep his side in it. He stepped up but his spot kick was at the right height for Okonkwo to save and Forest were exiting the FA Cup.

The first half was extremely disappointing. It was a chance for those players to come out and give Dyche a headache for upcoming games but none of them came out and proved that. We were getting into good areas but we were just too slow with our movement. A positive was that we didn’t looking like conceding in those opening 35 minutes but then we conceded two really soft goals that were avoidable. The second half was completely different and we looked more like a Premier League side. I think that was mainly down to the quality of Gibbs-White and Dominguez as their introduction really changed the game. We showed fight to get the scoreline 3-3 but the third goal we conceded is disappointing as we look like we haven’t improved the issue of defending set pieces. I thought we would take the game to Wrexham more in extra time as they begun to tire more quickly. We did well with penalties last season but it isn’t always going to go our way and to have the confidence to step up is brave. Our main focuses are the Premier League and Europa League so this does give us more time to focus on that.

Wrexham: Okonkwo; Doyle, Scarr, Hyam; Cacace (Thomason 60’), Dobson, Sheaf (McClean 88’), Longman (Barnett 91’); Broadhead (O’Brien 69’), Rathbone (Windass 69’); Smith (Rodriguez 100’)

Forest: Sels; Zinchenko (Williams 46’), Morato, Jair Cunha, Savona (Murillo 97’); McAtee (Dominguez 46’), Douglas Luiz (Awoniyi 88’); Bakwa (Gibbs-White 46’), Hutchinson, Ndoye (Hudson-Odoi 69’); Igor Jesus