Hollywood drama as Kelly wins it
Maidenhead United: Wrexham’s celebrity owners watch on but jubilant Magpies clinch game to spoil Red Dragons' party
MAIDENHEAD UNITED 3, WREXHAM 2
On a night when Hollywood came to Maidenhead, the Magpies wrote their own dream script to beat Wrexham 3-2 at York Road.
There was a buzz around the ground before kick-off as Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took their seats in the main stand, but the new owners of Wrexham witnessed a horror show from the visitors in the first half as the Magpies flew into a two-goal lead.
Only 21 minutes were on the clock when the hosts took the lead through Kane Ferdinand.
The influential Jay Mingi started the move and fed the ball left for Reece Smith to swing in a cross that Ferdinand stooped to head past Christian Dibble.
A second followed within a minute as Mingi was left all alone in the area to fire home after the Magpies had worked the ball well down the right side of the Wrexham area.
Reynolds and McElhenney soon became the butt of fans’ jokes, with the Magpies’ supporters singing ‘Ryan Reynolds, you bought the wrong club’.
Things then went from bad to worse for the pair and their club when Bryce
Hosannah was shown a straight red card following an elbow on Mingi just after the half-hour mark.
But Wrexham – and their vociferous supporters in the Bell Street end – were also resilient, and just before half-time they grabbed a goal back through Paul Mullin’s header from a set piece.
The goal gave the visitors a lift going into the interval, and they carried that momentum into the second half, despite being down to 10 men.
The Magpies were saved by the offside flag when Mullin was sent through on goal in the 52nd minute, but, if that was a warning shot, the hosts didn’t heed the lesson.
Just six minutes later Wrexham drew level in spectacular style, with Jordan Davies crashing home a shot from the edge of the area to give Rhys Lovett no chance and prompt celebratory high-fives from Reynolds and McElhenney in the stands.
At this stage there looked to be only one winner.
Wrexham pressed for a third and the Magpies looked tired, leggy and out of ideas.
But just when it seemed the visitors would pen an ending worthy of a Hollywood film, the Magpies broke to score the winner in the 75th minute.
There looked to be little on when Josh Kelly picked up the ball midway through the Wrexham half, but he was able to hold the ball up, check back inside his marker and thump the ball into the bottom corner from
just outside the area.
It was the striker’s second goal in as many games after netting in the 3-2 win over Woking at the weekend.
Wrexham pressed in the closing stages, but somewhat half-heartedly, and Lovett made a comfortable save from a Mullin header in the 88th minute. In fact, the Magpies should have made life more comfortable for themselves in stoppage time, when Ryan Upward broke from midfield and played in Emile Acquah but the striker’s low shot was pushed behind for a corner.
The final whistle sounded shortly afterwards, and Ryan and Rob were shepherded out into a waiting car by security with their camera crew in tow.
The Magpies second straight league win sees them into 16th place in the National League, and within striking distance of the sides above them ahead of Saturday’s trip to Eastleigh, who now sit just a point above them in the table.