Swansea and Wrexham were on opposite ends of the emotional lottery this weekend, as the former went out on penalties, while the latter went through via a shootout in the FA Cup Third Round.

Wrexham’s fairytale continued as they went 2-0 up in the first half against their Premier League opposition. Goals from Liberato Cacace and Ollie Rathbone had Wrexham fans dreaming of an upset, but Igor Jesus’ eighth goal of the season pegged the North Walian side back.

Dom Hyam restored Wrexham’s two-goal lead before Callum Hudson-Odoi’s brace levelled the match in dramatic fashion.

After a goalless extra time, the game went to penalties, with Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo proving to be the hero of the night, saving Jesus and Omari Hutchinson to see his side through 4-3 in the shootout.

‘Could we make our own bit of history tonight?’

Wrexham’s victory over Nottingham Forest was their first time beating top-flight opposition since 1999, with manager Phil Parkinson praising his side for their upset win.

“We highlighted to the lads some of the great moments in this club’s history in the FA Cup and could we make our own bit of history tonight. We’ve certainly done that,” Parkinson said.

“This was another test against Premier League opposition and the next stage of our development is playing against these players.

“If you give them an inch you’re going to get punished and they were clinical in those moments. We will analyse that and learn from it.”

Swans out of the Cup in dramatic fashion

At halftime, you would be hard pressed to find a person in the Swansea.com Stadium that would predict the drama that was to follow in the next hour and a half.

After a drab, goalless first half, two goals in ten minutes after the break from Jisung Eom for Swansea and Josh Maja for West Brom saw the game turn into an end-to-end contest in the blink of an eye.

Swansea missed several chances as the match entered extra time, with Malick Yalcouye hitting the post before Jed Wallace’s powerful first-time hit gave West Brom the lead.

But another swift reply saw Zeidane Inoussa score his first goal for the Swans to take the game to a shootout.

After the first ten penalties were scored, three misses in a row followed – Bobby Wales and Yalcouye for Swansea, as Chris Mepham failed for the visitors.

Ollie Bostock blasted his penalty into the top left corner to take the Baggies through to the fourth round.

“It was emotional because of the two goals in extra time. From our side, I think we had the chances to close the game,” said a frustrated Vitor Matos.

“Especially in cup games when you don’t finish the game, you give them the opportunity, and that’s what happened.

“The team showed resilience, and I think that’s quite important to see and I really like to see that. Then of course you go to penalties and that’s what it is.”

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