Who is to ‘blame’ for Wrexham missing out on Wembley? Phil Parkinson explains as Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney see Red Dragons fail to book ‘Hollywood final’ date with Tom Brady’s Birmingham

The Blues, who count NFL legend Tom Brady among their investors, were the first side to book their place in the Football League Trophy final. Wrexham, with co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney watching on from afar, had the chance to join their League One promotion rivals at the home of English football.

They appeared to be well on course to achieve that when taking a 2-0 lead in a semi-final date with Peterborough, but conceded a stoppage-time equaliser to send the game to a penalty shootout. Paul Mullin and Elliot Lee missed from the spot, allowing the Posh to continue the defence of their EFL Trophy crown.

Disappointed Red Dragons boss Parkinson told reporters afterwards: “We've thrown away a chance to go to Wembley as far as I'm concerned. We were comfortable in the game, 2-0 up and made a lot of changes, I thought the lads did well.

“Two really poor goals to concede. Moments in the game of concentration and seeing the game through, particularly the second one. From a game which looked so comfortable for us, to end up not going to Wembley is very difficult to take for us all, but we've got no one else to blame but ourselves.”

While silverware has fallen out of reach for Wrexham, they remain in the hunt for automatic promotion and can now focus all of their efforts on getting across that line. Parkinson added: “We've said before every round that the league is our number one priority, and it always has been, but when you get so close, we want to finish the job off. We've done well in this tournament throughout this season, but now we've got to focus on the league and learn.”

Wrexham are looking to make history in 2024-25 as the first EFL team to secure three successive promotions. They sit third in the League One table at present and will be back in action on Saturday when playing host to Bolton.