Blackburn eliminates Wrexham in fourth round of FA Cup

BLACKBURN, England — Ryan Reynolds and Wrexham missed out on the chance of a showdown with Newcastle after losing to Blackburn 4-1 in the FA Cup on Monday. 

The Welsh club’s Hollywood co-owner might have been dreaming of a mouth-watering fifth-round clash against the English Premier League team when Andrew Cannon put Wrexham up 1-0 in the 19th-minute at Ewood Park. 

But the fourth-division team was brought to earth by second-division Blackburn.

Sammi Szmodics and Sam Gallagher scored in the 32nd and 34th. Szmodics struck again in first-half stoppage time. Sondre Tronstad notched the fourth goal.

“It’s a great lesson for us. Against better quality players, you’ve got to be switched on all the time or you get punished, and they punished us tonight,” Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said. “We’ll regroup and we’ll concentrate on a terrific second part of the season in the league.”

Blackburn manager Jon Dahl Tomasson is a former Newcastle striker and can look forward to a reunion with his old team.

And Szmodics is targeting a cup giant-killing in the next round. 

“Chuffed to get through and into the next round, looking forward to Newcastle,” he said. “We feel like we can beat anyone here on our day.” 

Wrexham’s priority is to secure a second successive promotion and move up to division three. It is second in the standings and five points behind first-placed Stockport with a game in hand.