FA Cup: Coventry City 3 - 4 Wrexham
Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2023 8:51 pm
FA Cup shocker as ten-man Sky Blues knocked out in seven goal thriller
Coventry City fell victim to a third round FA Cup upset as non-league high flyers Wrexham knocked them out of the famous competition in a seven goal thriller at the CBS Arena.
The Sky Blues trailed 3-1 at the break after conceding dreadful goals and despite conceding a fourth from the penalty spot early in the second half when Jonathan Panzo was sent off into the bargain, they battled back with goals from Viktor Gyokeres and Kasey Palmer to make it 4-3 with 14 minutes left on the clock in a pulsating cup tie at the CBS Arena. But despite throwing everything at their opponents, they simply couldn’t find an equaliser against a side 60 places below them in the football pyramid.
The Red Dragons made a confident start and promptly got their rewards in the 12th minute when big striker Sam Dalby jumped between Michael Rose and Jonathan Panzo to head home a ball in from Luke Young, picking his spot from six yards out.
Kasey Palmer then thumped the left-hand post from a free-kick but minutes later, in the 18th, City found themselves 2-0 down when Elliot Lee hit a speculative cross-cum-shot from out wide on the left and it somehow caught Simon Moore out as it found its way in at the far post.
City were forced to make an early change when Fabio Tavares went down injured and was replaced by Viktor Gyokeres before Robins’ men pulled a goal back after Martyn Waghorn set up Ben Sheaf for a shot in the box in the 36th minute. Waghorn could have equalised minutes later but hit his effort straight at the keeper.
But just as Coventry looked to be back in the game, Wrexham increased their lead in the sixth minute of seven added at the end of the first half. Ben Tozer sent in a long throw which City failed to deal with three times before it found the unmarked Thomas O’Connor who nodded past Moore to make it 3-1 at the break.
The home side started the second half with four corners in quick succession but soon found themselves 4-1 down when they failed to deal with another long throw into the box, this time Max Cleworth’s shot being blocked by Panzo’s arm and the referee pointing straight to the spot and sending the defender off in the process. Paul Mullin then stepped up to slot home from 12 yards.
Coventry reduced the deficit again in the 69th minute when a break-away saw Palmer pull the ball back to Gyokeres in the box, leaving the Swede to slot home to make it 4-2 in an end to end tie. Palmer then pulled another goal back in the 76th minute when he hit an inch perfect free-kick from 25 yards to make it 4-3 to spark a grandstand finish amid seven minutes of added time.