Wrexham will welcome Brighton to the Racecourse live on Sgorio on Tuesday night, in an FA Cup third round replay.
Brighton won five of their first six games this season, shooting to the top of the Championship by the end of August but since then, the Seagulls have struggled and have fallen as low as 14th in the league and have only won six of their last 20 league games.
However, two of those six wins have been in the last two games, with Brighton keeping two consecutive clean sheets and beating Southampton and Bristol City at the Amex Stadium.
Wrexham’s season started in a similar vein to Brighton’s but unlike their opponents, the Dragons have maintained their place at the top of the table, with Andy Morrell’s side two points clear of Fleetwood after a run of 15 games unbeaten in the Blue Square Premier.
Only twice before have Wrexham and Brighton’s names come out of the hat to face each other in the FA Cup and it’s taken a replay to separate the sides each time.
Brighton won the replay 2-3 at the Racecourse in 1932 and Wrexham won a third replay 3-1, again at the Racecourse, in 1953.
There’s substantial FA Cup pedigree on Brighton’s coaching staff – their manager, Gus Poyet, won the Cup with Chelsea in 2000, beating Aston Villa in the last final to the played at the old Wembley.
The prize of the two teams, of course, is a home game against Premier League Newcastle in the next round.
While Brighton faced a Premier League side last season in the fifth round – losing against Stoke, who went on to become runners-up in the final – Wrexham haven’t faced a team from the top division since 1999.
Middlesbrough was the team that travelled down from the north east to the Racecourse in 1999, and their team including Paul Gascogine and Juninho, managed by Bryan Robson, lost by two goals to one against Wrexham’s heroes.
Beating a Premier League team is the dream again, but they must first beat a team from the Championship!
Wrexham v Brighton and Hove Albion LIVE on S4C Wednesday 18 January at 1900
