Phil Parkinson challenged his players to make their own FA Cup history and not just bask in the achievements of club legends and on another special night under the lights in North Wales, Wrexham did just that to reach round five.
Every time the FA Cup rolls back around nostalgia kicks in in these parts to the Mickey Thomas free-kick versus Arsenal in 1992, or the historic wins against Newcastle United or West Ham United.
Having fallen at this round on two previous occasions since Parkinson arrived, losing a replay to Sheffield United and going down 4-1 at Blackburn Rovers, this was super sweet for the man who Hollywood co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac said has ‘a job for life’ this week.
It was Josh Windass’ first-half goal, his ninth of the campaign, that fired Wrexham into the fifth round for the first time since 1997, and it was a goal that could easily have been scrubbed by anxious officiating.
As Wrexham countered down the left side, first Sam Smith thought he was fouled, then team-mate Ollie Rathbone, and even George Thomason by the time he started to scamper free.
Thomason, one of 13 summer arrivals as part of the most expensive transfer window in the club’s history, overcooked the initial cross as the referee played advantage.
Wrexham are into the FA Cup last 16 for the first time since 1997 after beating Ipswich 1-0
The Welsh club fielded a strong side and were rewarded with a victory on Friday night
Phil Parkinson challenged his men to go and write their own history in the competition
Picked up and recycled by Ryan Longman on the opposite flank, he cut inside and within a blink his shot has helped in by a swing of Windass’ right foot. Advantage Wrexham.
Ipswich gave it a go but it was hard to escape the frustration at their approach.
Kieran McKenna made 10 changes from the weekend win at Derby County and the one survivor from that side, Cedric Kipre, was withdrawn at half-time.
Even McKenna’s pre-match interview told the story when his first thought was to the upcoming ‘busy schedule’.
The truth is, the FA can take away replays, try to dress this proud competition up differently, make it more appealing, but ultimately the winner gets £2.1million.
Ipswich are putting all their eggs in the Championship promotion basket, which nets a minimum £100m. No harm in that. To managers up and down the country, it’s a non-contest as to which comes first but it doesn’t make it any less of a shame given the prestige of the cup.
So it was refreshing to see Parkinson stick with his No 1 goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo – who made a stunning point-blank save from a long throw to deny Chuba Akpom in the second half – as well as his preferred back three.
Ipswich at least feigned a level of desire to try and claw their way back into things, bringing on star winger Jack Clarke with 20 minutes to go, although chances at both ends were at a real premium aside from a Windass header late in the contest.
Ultimately, here was a story of one manager making this competition a priority and the other doing the opposite and that was the real separator.
