Wrexham

Luke Hemmings
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Rex Features

Wrexham's 2-1 defeat to Hull City ended a four-game unbeaten run in the Championship and dented hopes of a fourth successive promotion.

But forward Davis Keillor-Dunn, who made just his second appearance since rejoining the Welsh club in February, felt the Red Dragons were beaten by a high-quality opponent.

"They're a really good side. They're up there for a reason," he said.

"You've got to be so well drilled in this league. We chucked everything at them and they kept everything out."

Nathan Broadhead's 76th-minute strike offered hope of a comeback after Hull took a 2-0 lead at Stok Cae Ras, but the Tigers held on to boost their promotion prospects.

Keillor-Dunn said defeat left him "a little bit gutted", but stressed that Wrexham deserve credit for winning three of their past four league games and going toe-to-toe with Club World Cup Champions Chelsea in the FA Cup last Saturday.

"We got one back and tried to get two. The boys have put so much into the last two games," he said.

"Sometimes you just have to give Hull credit, they held on and made it compact at the back."

With an all-Welsh contest against Swansea City coming on Friday, Keillor-Dunn says Wrexham remain in positive mood.

"I came to the club in January and I've got nothing but amazing things to say about this place," he said.

"We're going into every game thinking we can win the game, which is a massive, massive trait to have as a football team.

"We're going to rest up for the rest of the week and go again. The boys are unbelievable professionals in there and they'll be doing the right things to get themselves fit and ready for Friday."

Luke Hemmings
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Getty Images

Former Wrexham winger Waynne Phillips says the Red Dragons simply "weren't good enough" in their defeat to Hull City on Tuesday night, insisting a strong response is now essential.

Wrexham fell two goals behind just after the hour mark, with Welsh international Lewis Koumas extending the Tigers' lead.

But speaking to BBC Radio Cymru on Tuesday evening, Phillips believes the damage was done long before the second goal.

"Put simply, too many of them weren't good enough on the night," he said.

"We could see that from the first 10 to 20 minutes. The passing wasn't good enough, and we don't see that very often with Wrexham."

Nathan Broadhead did offer Wrexham late hope, scoring his sixth of the season in a finish reminiscent of Alejandro Garnacho's goal for Chelsea against the Welsh side on Saturday.

"The goal in the second half gave them a little bit of hope," said Phillips.

"But over the 95 minutes I don't think they deserved a point or anything else out of the game."

Despite the setback, Phil Parkinson's team remain firmly in the play-off positions, three points clear of Derby County and just six behind their opponents Hull.

Fellow Welsh side, Swansea City have surged into contention as well, and victory in Friday's all-Welsh clash (13 March, 2000 GMT) could move the Swans to within two points of Wrexham.

Phillips, however, expects a reaction in the derby from his former side: "That's what they do, when they lose games, they respond," he said.

"It's not going to be easy, just like the nine games that follow the Swansea match. But what a game it is to look forward to."

"Swansea had a great result at Portsmouth, and we saw how strong Portsmouth were here a few weeks ago. But I hope Wrexham will be able to respond after losing tonight."

Image source, PA Media

Davis Keillor-Dunn says he is "buzzing" after making only his second Wrexham appearance during Tuesday's Championship defeat to Hull City.

The 28-year-old forward has had to be patient since joining the Red Dragons from Barnsley on transfer deadline day in January.

Keillor Dunn played 20 minutes off the bench against the Tigers as Wrexham tried in vain to avoid a defeat to their promotion rivals at the Stok Cae Ras.

His only other involvement since signing for Wrexham was an 18-minute substitute appearance in the 2-0 home defeat to Millwall on 7 February.

"I'm buzzing to get on and get a few more minutes for the team," said Keillor-Dunn, who scored 16 goals in 34 appearances for Barnsley this season before returning to the club where he made six appearances in 2020.

"It was nice to get a couple of strikes on goal and a couple of touches in and around the box. That was a positive for me.

"The fixtures are coming so thick and fast at the moment, and that's a player's dream when you're trying to get minutes."

With Wales striker Kieffer Moore out injured, Keillor-Dunn will hope there's scope for more game time in Friday's Championship derby against Welsh rivals Swansea City at the Cae Ras.

Wrexham will aim to bounce back from the Hull defeat while the Swans will look to complete the double over Phil Parkinson's team having won the December match in Swansea 2-1.

"A little Welsh derby....if you can't get up for them, you can't get up for anything can you," said Keillor-Dunn.

"It'll be a packed-out stadium. These are the ones you want to play in.

"We're gutted about the Hull result, but we've still got a great opportunity ahead of us this season.

"We've got 10 games to go and we're strapping right in!"

Image source, Getty Images

Phil Parkinson has urged his Wrexham players to close the gap to the sides above them in the Championship as opposed to looking over their shoulders at the chasing pack over the remainder of their play-off run-in.

The Red Dragons currently sit sixth but will move above Hull City into fifth if they can beat the Tigers at Stok Cae Ras tonight (19:45 GMT).

"With Hull, they've had some strange games," Parkinson said.

"If you look at Saturday, they had the chances to beat Millwall. Then you look at the Derby game where they won, it could have easily gone the other way.

"The Portsmouth game where they won, it could have gone the other way. They give up chances but they do create.

"But I said to the lads this morning that this is our chance tomorrow to reel a club back into the pack.

"We're going to go all out to achieve that and it's one almighty effort needed."

The contest with Sergej Jakirović's side will be the second of three games Wrexham play at home in a seven-day spell - with Swansea City heading to north Wales on Friday night (20:00 GMT).

And with both sides pushing for a top six place, Parkinson says his players are fully aware of the importance of the fixture against Hull.

"It's just a really exciting night for us," added the Wrexham manager.

"It's about the crowd turning up again, but I'm sure they will.

"I was having breakfast today around the lads and I could hear the talk from the lads about the focus being right on tomorrow night."

Midfielder George Dobson will miss the visit of Hull due to suspension.

Parkinson also confirmed Wrexham are monitoring the fitness of right wing-back Issa Kabore after he sat out the Chelsea fixture with a minor issue.

Image source, Getty Images

Phil Parkinson believes Callum Doyle can "keep building his reputation" as the defender's improvement at Wrexham continues.

The 22-year-old produced an eye-catching display in the Red Dragons' 4-2 FA Cup fifth round defeat by Chelsea on Saturday.

Doyle - a permanent signing from Manchester City in the summer - scored his third goal and claimed his third assist of the campaign against Liam Rosenior's Premier League side.

It further typified his growing influence in north Wales.

Having started just six of the first 18 Championship matches Wrexham played following his move to Stok Cae Ras, the defender has gone on to start 18 successive games across all competitions.

"Doyley's obviously a talented player," Parkinson said.

"He's creating goals and scoring goals from left side centre-back and he's got better.

"Since he's been here he's really bought into what we've asked him to do.

"He's a very good player and he knows he's got to keep his focus every minute of every game and keep building his reputation and let his football do the talking."

Image source, Getty Images

Striker Sam Smith says Wrexham must take their FA Cup performance against Chelsea into Tuesday's Championship game against promotion rivals Hull at the Stok Cae Ras (19:45 GMT).

For a big chunk of Saturday's first half Smith would have dreamed he was going to be Wrexham's fifth-round giant-killing hero, as he opened the scoring to shock the Premier League stars on a "special" night in north Wales.

But Chelsea equalised just before half-time and overcame another Wrexham goal from defender Callum Doyle as their Champions League quality shone though with a 4-2 extra time win.

"Credit to the staff, the players and everyone involved at the club - it was one of the best atmospheres I've known at the ground, 100 per cent," said Smith.

"I really hope everyone can be here again on Tuesday and go again."

Wrexham will be bidding to leapfrog Hull into fifth place on their return to league action.

"It was disappointing to lose to Chelsea but we've got to make sure we take that performance into Tuesday and the last 11 games, and see the positives," added the 28-year-old former Reading striker.

Smith's 18th-minute goal was his sixth in 12 league and cup appearances in 2026.

It was route-one stuff - a long ball over the top from Doyle, followed by a clever run from Smith that exploited Chelsea's high defensive line and a clinical near-post finish.

"It's something we work on," said Smith.

"[Callum] has got an outrageous left foot and I knew I'd cause them problems.

"As soon as Callum looked up, I thought I was in.

"My touch was good and the keeper was back-tracking. I hit it early and to score and hear the atmosphere afterwards...it was a special few minutes."

Image source, Opta

It's a big game in the Championship play-off race as Wrexham return to league action after their FA Cup exploits to host Hull City on Tuesday night (19:45 GMT).

Hours before the Red Dragons took Chelsea to extra-time before exiting the FA Cup in the fifth round on Saturday, the Tigers were a touch unfortunate to go down 3-1 at home to Millwall in another top-six battle.

It means City are fifth, three points ahead of Wrexham, who now have a game in hand, with seventh-placed Derby leading the play-off chasing pack a further three points adrift.

A home win would see Wrexham into the top-five for the first time this season and a win for either team could apply pressure to fourth-placed Ipswich, who visit Stoke the same evening.

• Wrexham are unbeaten in their past 10 home league games against Hull (W7 D3), with this the first time they're hosting the Tigers since a 2-2 draw in League One in October 2004.

• Following their 2-0 win in December, Hull are looking to complete the league double over Wrexham for the first time since 1948-49.

• Wrexham have won nine of their past 13 league games (D2 L2), though both defeats in that run came in home games.

• Hull City have lost just one of their past nine away league games (W7 D1), though it did come at Ipswich Town last time out on the road.

• Wrexham's Josh Windass has scored three goals in his seven league appearances against Hull. His sides have won all three games in which he scored, but lost all four in which he didn't.

Pundits Ellen White and Glenn Murray join host Kelly Somers to bring you the action and talking points from Saturday and Sunday's FA Cup ties.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Port Vale 1-0 Sunderland

• Fulham 0-1 Southampton

• Leeds 3-0 Norwich

• Wrexham 2-3 Chelsea

• Newcastle 1-3 Man City

• Mansfield Town 1-2 Arsenal

• Wolves 1-3 Liverpool

There are three fifth-round ties in the FA Cup on Saturday and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Mansfield Town v Arsenal (12:15) - BBC Radio Nottingham

• Wrexham v Chelsea (17:30) - BBC iPlayer and BBC Radio 5 Live

• Newcastle v Manchester City (20:00) - BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Newcastle & BBC Radio Manchester

Kick-off times GMT

Follow all of the action and reaction here

You can also listen to today's 5 Live commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Wrexham v Chelsea" or "ask BBC Sounds to play Newcastle v Man City".

Find out more about how to listen to football on BBC Sounds

How to follow the FA Cup fifth round on the BBC

I am at this game for Radio 5 Live and am really looking forward to it.

The whole story of Wrexham's rise is incredible. They have had three successive promotions and are in with a chance of a fourth this season too.

Yes, they have splashed some cash along the way, but they have still had to spend that money the right way, to find the right players to fit into their system.

Their manager Phil Parkinson has done an incredible job because they have adapted and evolved each time they have made a step up, and they must be excited about this tie too.

I still fancy Chelsea to get past them, though. They outclassed another high-flying Championship side, Hull City, in round four and I think they will have too much quality for Wrexham.

Every defeat for Chelsea is always seen as being the end of the world but they got a great win against Aston Villa on Wednesday. Like most people I had taken Joao Pedro out of my fantasy team, so of course he went and scored a hat-trick.

Blues boss Liam Rosenior has done a good job so far. His target has to be Champions League football, but of course he would love to win the FA Cup.

Sutton's prediction: 1-3

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Jordan Butler
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Many thousands of articles have been written and dozens of documentary episodes have been aired on Disney+ about the recent and rapid rise of Wrexham AFC.

Since Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds purchased the club in February 2021 for an estimated £2m – and Phil Parkinson was installed as manager – they have ascended three divisions in the past three seasons and now sit in a Championship play-off position.

A fourth successive promotion is a distinct possibility. Their march up the leagues has been temporarily halted for this FA Cup date with Chelsea – the first meeting between the sides in 44 years.

Parkinson's side have already dispatched top-flight opposition in the cup this season, with a penalty shootout win over Nottingham Forest in round three, and the 58-year-old was the last manager to knock the Blues out of the FA Cup with a non-Premier League side when his League One Bradford City achieved a 4-2 victory at Stamford Bridge in 2015. Jose Mourinho was Chelsea boss at the time.

It's unlikely the visitors will be daunted by the occasion and they have already made light work of second-tier opposition in this season's competition. A 5-1 thrashing of Charlton Athletic in head coach Liam Rosenior's first game in charge was followed by a 4-0 victory over Hull City, with both triumphs occurring away from home.

The Blues arrive in north Wales fresh from a comprehensive 4-1 win at Aston Villa, which was arguably the most complete display of Rosenior's two months at the helm.

Only 21 league places will separate the sides come kick-off on Saturday, but you only need to cast your mind back three years to illustrate the obvious gulf that still remains. Both clubs played on this day in 2023 and both were victorious, but at very different levels of football.

Wrexham cruised to a 4-0 win at Dagenham & Redbridge as they conquered all before them to win the National League with a record 111 points, while just 18 miles down the road Chelsea defeated Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in a Champions League last 16 fixture.

Image source, Getty Images

Did you know?

• Chelsea have progressed from each of their past 24 FA Cup ties against lower league opposition. However, their last defeat to a non-Premier League side in this competition was a 4-2 home reverse to Phil Parkinson's Bradford City in January 2015 in the fourth round.