Sheffield United vs Wrexham: live score and latest updates from the FA Cup fourth-round replay
07:29 PM
A nice chat here with Bryn Law
07:15 PM
Paul Heckingbottom on his five changes
It’s another tough one. Both teams are second in the league so we have other priorities. We need to be much more on the front foot, more aggressive. We know we have to defend our box but when we get the opportunities we have to take them. We’ll be using the bench heavily. If we could have made more changes we would have because of the schedule we have coming up but we’re light at the moment. It’s not me disrespecting the Cup.
07:08 PM
Phil Parkinson on his seven changes
A couple of changes were enforced by injuries and one player being Cup-tied. Freshness can be important. We fully respect Sheffield United but we’re here to go at them. I believ we can create opportunities against them. We’re best when we play in that manner. We embrace it, enjoy the break for the league and give our 4,700 fans something to cheer.
07:00 PM
Your teams in black and white
Sheffield United Davies, Basham, Ahmedhodzic, Egan, Robinson, Osborn, Berge, Coulibaly, McAtee, Ndiaye, Sharp.
Substitutes Foderingham, Lowe, Norwood, Clark, Arblaster, Brooks, Marsh, Starbuck.
Wrexham: Lainton, Forde, Cleworth, Tozer, Lennon, Mendy, Young, Jones, Cannon, Mullin, Dalby.
Substitutes Watson, James, Butler, Hosannah, McAlinden, O’Connor, Lee, Palmer, Bickerstaff.
Referee Leigh Doughty (Lancashire).
06:50 PM
Sam Dalby partners Paul Mullin up front for Wrexham
06:49 PM
Ismaila Coulibaly makes his first Blades’ start
05:33 PM
Preview: only one shot at a giantkilling?
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the fourth round FA Cup replay between Sheffield United and Wrexham following their thrilling 3-3 draw at the Racecourse. One of the great FA Cup themes is that lower league, and particularly non-League sides have one shot at giantkilling. If the higher league team manages to claw their way back to parity – as John Egan’s 95th-minute equaliser did for the Blades – generally the replay goes their way, as Wrexham know only too well having held Championship Brighton away at the third round stage in 2011-12 before losing the replay on penalties. In 2007-08, though, Conference South side Havant & Waterlooville from the sixth tier battered League One Swansea 4-2 in a third round replay and earned a trip to Anfield in the fourth round. The prize tonight for Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, or Sheffield United’s prospective new owner Dozy Mmobuosi, is a home tie against Spurs.
Wrexham’s 2-1 victory over Altrincham on Saturday kept them in second place in the National League, three points behind but with two games in hand on leaders Notts County with 18 matches to play. Phil Parkinson, whose promotion charge has been spearheaded by the 34 goals shared by Paul Mullin and Olly Palmer, has challenged his players to show that they deserve to compete at Football League level, the status they are so desperate to regain 13 years after dropping into non-League.
“The Cup is just a bonus, helping raise the profile of the club and players,” said Parkinson. “I think a lot of players have shown they can live in that company and now the challenge is for them to show they have the consistency to do it not just in one-off games. It’s a great opportunity to play at a terrific stadium and test ourselves again.”
Sheffield United, second in the Championship and enjoying a 10-point cushion to the play-off places beneath them, are brimming with confidence, as their resurgent manager Paul Heckingbottom told the Sheffield Star. “At our place, the whole dynamic will change,” he said. “It’s different now, totally different.
“We knew what we were going to face over there, and barring a 15-minute spell, I thought we coped with it really well. We understood what we were going to be up against. But the situation has changed now.
“We’ll come into this match with all of the same principles we would for a Championship game. We’ll need those because we know what Wrexham are going to bring. They’ll come in their numbers but, like I say, I think the feel at our place will be different now.”