Chelsea twice came from behind to scupper 10-man Wrexham’s hopes of a giant-killing in a thrilling FA Cup fifth-round tie in Wales.
In front of the Welsh club’s Hollywood owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, Sam Smith squeezed a shot in at the near post after exploiting Chelsea’s high line to open the scoring for Wrexham.
But winger Garnacho forced an unfortunate own goal before half‑time when his effort was cleared by George Thomason onto Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo’s back and rebounded into the net.
The second half was end to end. Chelsea made a series of changes after a poor opening 45 minutes, but Wrexham went back in front when Josh Windass’ edge‑of‑the‑box half-volley was cleverly flicked in by standout performer Callum Doyle.
Their elation lasted only four minutes, however, as Josh Acheampong drilled a powerful shot inside the near post to restore parity for Chelsea, with winger Pedro Neto blasting a powerful effort against the bar moments later.
The turning point, however, came after an intervention from the video assistant referee (VAR) and an on-field review of the video monitor by referee Peter Bankes, who sent off midfielder George Dobson for a high and forceful foul on Garnacho in the 93rd minute.
In extra time, Wrexham began to tire and faced shots from Andrey Santos and substitute Marc Guiu before Garnacho was left free at the back post to side foot home Dario Essugo’s clipped cross.
A dramatic 114th-minute equaliser by substitute Lewis Brunt was ruled out by VAR for offside but highlighted how Wrexham threatened late on through further shots through Kieffer Moore and Windass.
It was a shaky showing from Chelsea but Joao Pedro added gloss to the scoreline by catching a tired Wrexham side on the counter‑attack to make it four just before the full‑time whistle.
Credit: bbc
