Egan’s late strike denies Wrexham’s famous cup

John Egan’s stoppage-time goal rescued Sheffield United against non-league Wrexham in a frantic FA Cup fourth round tie.

Goals from James Jones and Tom O’Connor gave the Welsh the lead before Oliver Norwood equalized for the Blades, who sent off Daniel Jebbison.

Paul Mullin’s goal four minutes from time seemed to have ensured an upset, but captain Egan equalized late.

Egan’s stoppage-time strike turned out to be the final twist of a gripping game that pitted the NL leaders against the second-placed team in the Championship.

Wrexham’s part-owner, Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds, was at the racecourse to watch his team put on a great display in their first fourth round appearance since 1997.

In naming an unchanged team, Dragons boss Phil Parkinson said the aim was to make the afternoon as “difficult as possible” for an away team fighting for a Premier League place.

Parkinson accepted Wrexham, unbeaten in 16 league games, entered the game underdogs, just as they had before the previous round win over Championship team Coventry.

Sheffield United showed five changes to the team that beat Hull City 1-0 to extend their unbeaten run to nine games.

And from kick-off, the Blades showed their intent, earning a corner within the first two minutes in which a returning McBurnie headed home.

Wrexham’s hopes suffered a double whammy with defenders Jordan Tunnicliffe and Aaron Hayden forced off the field injured with just seven minutes remaining in the game.

But the hosts responded positively to those setbacks, with Mullin leading the charge as he looked to add to the seven goals already scored in this season’s competition.

The visitors looked dangerous at half-time and a strong run and subsequent shot from Jebbison were deflected by Mark Howard, with the former Blades goalkeeper also denying Tommy Doyle shortly after.

Both teams did their bit in an entertaining end-to-end cup tie that never let up.

Elliot Lee had a shot from the edge of the box blocked before Egan brought Mullin down on the edge of the penalty area, but hit the free kick against the United wall.

Having finished the first half strongly, Wrexham got off to a stormy start to the second period.

Captain Luke Young’s shot was saved by Adam Davies and Mullin was unable to finish off the rebound before the United defense cleared.

But the home side equalized on 50 minutes when O’Connor hooked in a signature long shot from Ben Tozer and substitute Jones pounced.

Wrexham were on top after that and when the United defense failed to clear a corner on 61 minutes, O’Connor spiked the ball in to send the home fans into raptures.

The celebrations were barely over when Paul Heckingbottom’s men equalized against the rest of the game four minutes later.

Wrexham were unable to clear substitute Billy Sharp’s cross and Norwood coolly scored the score past Howard after a first try was blocked.

The fabulously tense tie took another turn when Jebbison was shown a red card on 71 minutes after an off-the-ball clash with Tozer, in which he kicked the defender.

Wrexham pressed for a winner and with four minutes of 90 remaining, Mullin collected a pass from substitute Sam Dalby before slotting the ball under Davies for his 27th goal of the season.

But their hopes of adding another scalp to their remarkable FA Cup story were dashed in stoppage time, when Egan found the net from Doyle’s corner to ensure the teams met again at Bramall Lane to decide who goes through to the bottom. fifth round.

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said:

“The start we had, conceding a goal and losing two players, that the team reset as well as we did seemed outstanding to me.

“A smaller group of players could have been beaten by four or five zeros there. We had to readjust the team and the way we regained our composure was absolutely outstanding.”

“We got to half time and I thought at half time we would be back in the game. We took the game to Sheffield United, we pinned them down for long periods.

“Obviously, it’s a real blow that we haven’t gotten over, so it’s mixed emotions, as you can imagine.

“But the way the guys performed on the big stage was outstanding.”

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom said:

“We knew how difficult it was going to be, they’ve won every game at home, so we knew how difficult it was going to be, so there were no surprises whatsoever.

“We all know why everyone showed up here today, I’m glad we didn’t give everyone what they wanted.

“That was our motivation, so we’re happy to be in the fifth-round draw.”