Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds was left licking his wounds after joking about his team having negotiated extra goalkeepers for their match against Sheffield United.
The visitors began the game more than 70 places ahead of Wrexham in the football pyramid, meaning it was understandable for the home side to be nervous about the firepower available to Paul Heckingbottom's side. Sure enough, £20m striker Oli McBurnie took just 64 seconds to open the scoring, serving Reynolds an early reminder of his words.
Any suggestion of the floodgates opening after the early opener proved wide of the mark, though. The non-league hosts came back to lead the game twice and were moments away from a spot in the fifth round only for John Egan to deliver a last-gasp equaliser.
"I’ve negotiated us having four goalies this game!" Reynolds said in a video shared by the away side on social media. "Is this allowed?" Sheffield United asked, tagging the FA Cup's official account.
Once he was in front of the BBC cameras ahead of kick-off, though, the Canadian appeared more confident. This was despite admitting he was nervous ahead of what he called a "classic David vs Goliath" encounter.
“You guys know this more than anybody on earth, this is football. This is the beautiful game. And I’m going to go on record and say there’s a chance…albeit a slim chance that Sheffield United pulls off a miracle today!”
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Two goals either side of the hour mark, from James Jones and Tom O'Connor, helped Wrexham take the lead after McBurnie's early opener. Ollie Norwood equalised, with Paul Mullin restoring the hosts' lead only for Egan to beat the despairing efforts of home goalkeeper Mark Howard right at the death.
"The start we had, conceding a goal and losing two players, for the team to reset ourselves as well as we did I thought was outstanding," Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said after the game, per BBC Sport.
"A lesser group of players could have got beaten four or five-nil there. We had to rejig the team around and the way we regained our composure was absolutely outstanding.
"We got to half-time and I believed at half-time we would get back in the game. We took the game to Sheffield United, pinned them in for long periods.
"Obviously it's a real blow that we haven't got over the line, so it's mixed emotions as you can imagine. But the way the lads performed on the big stage was outstanding."
Wrexham and Sheffield United will learn who their potential fifth-round opponents are when the draw is made on Monday. Their replay is expected to take place during the week of February 6.
