Phil Parkinson urged his Wrexham players to embrace the magic of the FA Cup after booking their place in the fifth round with a 1-0 win over Ipswich Town on Friday.
Josh Windass scored the only goal in a battle between two Championship play-off contenders at SToK Cae Ras, continuing Wrexham’s fairytale association with the competition.
Wrexham memorably reached the fourth round of the competition when they were a National League club in 2022-23, beating Coventry City before losing to Sheffield United.
They fell at the same stage the following campaign, but victory over Ipswich saw them reach the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time since 1996–97.
Parkinson’s team are having a wonderful season in the Championship and currently sit sixth in the table in what is their first season in the second tier since 1981-82.
And the Wrexham boss wants his players to continue their respective runs in the FA Cup and league, with a trip to Bristol City on February 17.
“This club has a lot of history in the FA Cup and we talked to the players about that: ‘can we create our own piece of history by reaching the fifth round for the first time in 30 years?’” Parkinson said.
“Our confidence is not low. We have the team to cope, I think there is too much talk in football about how we will deal with the next match.”
“Every season is special in football and you have to enjoy nights like this, enjoy the tradition of the FA Cup.
“We prepared to get through it and we did. Now we’re going to embrace this run of games and do everything we can to keep our run in the league and the cup going.”
Job done, we enter the fifth round
#WxmAFC pic.twitter.com/UJ1VBSO5QO
— Wrexham AFC (@Wrexham_AFC) February 13, 2026
For Ipswich, they have now been eliminated in 11 of their last 13 games in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
The Tractor Boys have also suffered defeat in 16 of their last 19 games in the overall competition when they faced an opponent from the same division or a higher division than them.
And in what was their 33rd game of the season, Ipswich failed to get a single shot on target for the first time in the 2025-26 season, much to boss Kieran McKenna’s frustration.
“I thought we started well in both halves, but we couldn’t get the goal,” McKenna said.
“In the second half we tried everything and really tried to get back into the game, but we just couldn’t get back into the game.
“We’re disappointed tonight, disappointed for the supporters that we couldn’t get through, but we’ll take the lessons from tonight and that will hold up in the coming weeks.
“It’s good to come here, and it was a lot of people’s first time here, and of course we’ll be here again next Saturday.
“We learned a little bit about this and learned about their team, so we need to use those lessons for next week.”
#Parkinson #Wrexham #embrace #magic #Cup #Soccer #News