Pedro's Local Footie Fix: Southend United 1 Wrexham 3 - Goals from Jac Jones, Carrick Murphy & Sammy Chesworth help Wrexham to a hard fought win over Southend United & progress into the Last 16 of the FA Youth Cup for the very first time

FA Youth Cup Fourth Round Proper, Thursday 22nd January

I visited my local football ground of Roots Hall on a rare Thursday night outing to see if a young Shrimpers side could cause another upset in the FA Youth Cup and set up a mouth watering Fifth Round tie at current holders Aston Villa, but they needed to get past Wrexham in order to do this.

The Shrimpers youngsters were seeking to reach the Fifth Round of The FA Youth Cup for just the third time in the club’s history, Danny Heath’s National League U19 Alliance Academy South Division table-toppers had defeated Swindon Town on penalties in the previous round, and they now faced another Category Three Academy opposition in the form of the young Red Dragons.

Wrexham’s status as an EFL Championship club means they were exempt until the Third Round of the competition, and after sweeping aside EFL Youth Alliance North West Conference counterparts Port Vale in that round, they now travelled to the Essex Coast to see if they could themselves set up a Fifth Round match up against the current holders.

It was certainly a big incentive for both sides, and a superb crowd of 1,078 had turned out to see which side would progress, and fair play to the visitors who had travelled in decent numbers too, I reckon their were around fifty or so in the section I sat in, which on a Thursday night is very good indeed, but the majority of the crowd were hoping that The Blues could pull of another shock result.

After eighteen minutes it was advantage Wrexham, a lovely through ball from Sammy Chesworth sent Jac Jones through on goal, hosts keeper Josh Barrett made a decent stop to prevent the initial effort, but unfortunately for him the ball bounced back off Jones who then slotted into an empty net, and the Blues now had to find a way back into the game.

The hosts were the better side for the majority of the first period thereafter though and again belied their lower ranking in the tournament, Mitchell Ward saw an effort turned round the post by visiting keeper O'Keefe, and then Nikolay Zlatev somehow headed a point blank header against the visitors post late on in the half, and it meant Wrexham went into the break with a slender lead and the next goal was oh so crucial.

O'Keefe had to be smart to save from Dadson early in the second half as the young Blues pressed once again for a leveller, but they were dealt a hammer blow just before the hour mark when Carrick Murphy doubled Wrexham's advantage after his effort was deflected past Barrett, and now the hosts had a mountain to climb and it certainly flattened the atmosphere inside the stadium.

Wrexham you felt could now go on and maybe add a few more, Chesworth had a golden chance to make it three not long after, side footing wide from close range, however, the Blues found a second wind and won themselves a penalty with twenty minutes to go which was converted by Zlatev, and it was very much game on again, and the noise levels has risen up a few notches once again.

Wrexham though saw Chesworth denied brilliantly by Barrett on two occasions as the visitors looked to quickly restore their two goal cushion and flatten any comeback thoughts from the hosts, and then with twelve minutes remaining Barrett was adjudged to have brought down Wes Graham inside the box, penalty, and Chesworth finally beat Barrett to net from the spot, and The Dragons had that two goal cushion once again.

The hosts fought valiantly thereafter but never really threatened to get back into the contest, and in fact Barrett had to deny Chesworth again to prevent a fourth for Wrexham, Chesworth had been a constant threat to the hosts if truth be told, especially in the second period, The Blues best 'chance' was a cross from Dadson which O'Keefe had to turn over the bar but in the end Wrexham saw out the contest and had won through to the next round and set up that tie against Aston Villa.

A good battle indeed, The Shrimpers gave their all once again and can be proud of their achievements in this seasons FA Youth Cup, and fair play to Wrexham who scored their goals at key moments in the game, and certainly had to withstand a lot of pressure from their opponents, especially in the first period and after the hosts had briefly got back into the game, a well earned win and a good reward for them too as they reached this stage of the competition for the first time in the clubs history.

Full time Southend United 1 Wrexham 3