Reds Draw Wrexham In Cup

The draw for the Emirates FA Cup Third Round, made on Monday (8 December) evening, afforded away ties for the two remaining, Notts clubs, with Nottingham Forest heading to Wrexham, and Mansfield Town on the road at Sheffield United.

A pair of intriguing contests, it’ll be just the fourth time Wrexham and Forest have locked horns, the last of those being in October 1993, in the League Cup; meanwhile, the Blades and the Stags have met a little more often, this set to be the fourteenth meeting, the last a little over a decade ago, on August 2014, also in the League Cup.

For Forest, Sean Dyche’s side will certainly be looking to better last season’s run to the semi-finals, where they lost to the eventual runners-up, Manchester City; the Reds also reached the quarter-finals two years prior before losing to Liverpool, who went on to win it.

However, Forest have never really enjoyed much success in the famous old competition and, over the past twenty-five years or so, the Reds have struggled to get beyond Round Five, the two exceptions being that of 2022 and 2024.

Runners-up way back in 1991, you have to go back in time to find any victorious Reds, in 1959 when they defeated Luton Town 2-1 (manager Billy Walker, scorers Roy Dwight and Tommy Wilson), and way, way back in 1898, when defeating East Midlands rivals, Derby County 3-1 (manager/secretary Harry Hallam, scorers Arthur Capes two and John McPherson).

As for Nigel Clough’s Mansfield, they’ve not been beyond this stage of the competition since trips to the Fourth Round in 1978, 1988, and 2008, whilst they also reached the Fifth Round back in 1975 before losing at home, 1-0, to Carlisle United.

The Stags best ever FA Cup run, a visit to the quarter-finals back in the 1968-69 season, before losing 1-0 to the eventual runners-up, Leicester City; Clough and his League One charges would love to write their names in the club history books with a famous cup run this time around.