Liberato Cacace scores for Wrexham against Nottingham Forest. Photo: AFP
Second-tier Wrexham beat Nottingham Forest on penalties, after a 3-3 draw, to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup, eliminating an English Premier League side for the first time in 26 years in another chapter of their Hollywood story.
Kiwi Liberato Cacace scored for the Welsh club, but goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo was the hero for the hosts, saving Forest's fifth penalty by Omari Hutchinson to ensure the win.
"It was amazing to win the game in the end," Okonkwo told TNT Sports. "We just have to enjoy the moment."
All White Cacace and Oliver Rathbone scored in quick succession for Wrexham in the first half. The EFL Championship team looked headed for victory with a 3-1 lead in a breathless second half, before Callum Hudson-Odoi struck in the 76th and 89th minutes.
It was Cacace's first goal for the club, which he joined in July on a three-year deal from Italian Serie A club Empoli. It was also his first game since suffering a calf injury against Portsmouth in early November.
Forest boss Sean Dyche had selected a virtual reserve team with eight changes from Wednesday's EPL win over West Ham United. The team are also without the services of All Whites captain Chris Wood, who recently underwent knee surgery.
Liberato Cacace celebrates his first goal for Wrexham. Photo: AFP
Dyche sent on reinforcements in Neco Williams, Nicolas Dominguez and Morgan Gibbs-White for the second half, and it paid off, as Igor Jesus pulled one back in the 64th minute, nodding in a cross off the post.
Dominic Hyam restored Wrexham's two-goal advantage, when he dove to head home a free-kick in the 74th minute, before Hudson-Odoi's heroics.
Wrexham prevailed in the shootout, after extra-time ended without a goal, and the victory was another highlight for a team that have climbed from non-league football to the second tier in three seasons under the ownership of Hollywood A-listers Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Canadian Reynolds was at the game.
An angry Dyche gave a scathing review of his starters.
"The first half was completely unacceptable," he told TNT. "I let the players know this.
"Certain individuals certainly know. They will have to look in the mirror, but the strangeness of football, the players who came on in the second half, I think, were a credit.
"We went on and looked like a premier league side, but you can't do that in the first half. It's one of them, they all knock on your door and say, 'Why aren't I playing?'
"Well, the evidence was quite honestly there for some, not for all."
Championship side Oxford United beat League Two's MK Dons on penalties, after their match ended 1-1, while a couple of League One teams moved on, with Wigan Athletic beating Championship side Preston North End 1-0 and Port Vale defeating League Two's Fleetwood Town 1-0.
Holders Crystal Palace head to non-league Macclesfield Town - the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition - in one of the 18 games on Sunday.
- Reuters/RNZ Sport
