The Sports Buff ⚽️ ⚾️ 🏈

Joao Pedro came off the bench to inspire a lacklustre Chelsea into the next round of the FA Cup, as the Club World Cup winners overpowered their Championship opponents to move into the FA Cup quarter-finals.

The Dragons, who are chasing promotion to the Premier League, were brave in their approach and gave Chelsea an almighty scare. Liam Roesnoir’s side, who were not at full strength initially, were no doubt rattled.

Phil Parkinson’s side twice went in front, only for Chelsea to find a way to level. If one were to go by ‘the cript’, then that would have said, need not to worry, you will come good in the end and win the cup tie.

The sending off of George Dobson, which was upgraded after VAR intervention, changed the game. Before the red card, Pedro Neto cracked the Wrexham bar; the Premier League side were turning the screw, and the introduction of Brazilian striker Joao Pedro made Chelsea more menacing.

The inevitable happened as Wrexham bravely fell to two sucker-punch goals in extra time. Alejandro Garnacho, who drew Dobson into the tackle that saw the central midfielder sent off, got Chelsea’s third with Pedro netting Chelsea’s fourth and final goal of the night.

The West Londoners await their fate on Monday evening to see who they will face. A win is a win, they say, but they will be the first to admit they got lucky on several fronts. The red card and goal that didn’t stand.

Wrexham can now use this to reignite their play off challlenge.