Wrexham AFC earned a massive three points to put themselves back at the top of the National League against title rivals Notts County, and they wouldn’t have won were it not for Ben Foster’s crucial penalty save in the final minute of the game.
Safe to say, fans inside the Racecourse Ground and celebrity owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were left breathless as they looked on helplessly at the late drama.
The home side found themselves a goal down right at the end of the first half through an impressive free-kick from John Bostock, but got back on top in the 69th minute and went on to make it three thanks to Elliot Lee just 10 minutes later.
However, after giving away a penalty in the dying embers of added time, it was all down to former Man United keeper Foster to keep the three points and their title hopes alive. 40 years old, only just back out of retirement and he does this.
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 10, 2023
Ben Foster’s save is great but you have to wait till the end for Ryan Reynolds’ reaction…
I believe the word you’re looking for is limbs.
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Wrexham are now back at the top of the National League on 103 points and with a game in hand on Notts County sat just below them. Regardless, every remaining fixture is just as huge if their dreams of automatic promotion are to come true.
All that being said, it wasn’t lost on Reynolds and McElhenney how big this match was and speaking to BT Sport’s reporter Becky Ives after the full-time whistle, the former summed up the thoughts of those in the stadium in a way only he could.
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“This beautiful, torturous game” — couldn’t have put it any better ourselves.
"That was unlike anything I've ever seen before!!" 🔥
Ryan Reynolds reacts to the unbelievable scenes in the National League today after Wrexham beat Notts County!
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 10, 2023
Watching Ryan Reynolds react to Wrexham results will never not be funny to us; the same goes for McElhenney too, who simply shared a picture of him and his co-owner wide-eyed in disbelief and happiness, along with the tweet: “I can’t believe there was a time when I thought football was boring.”
The 46-year-old Canadian-American actor went on to say, “I’m actually grateful in this moment that I didn’t actually care about this years ago because it would have just eaten me alive”.
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After showering his team and everyone involved with praise, including Notts County — adding that he believes two teams should be able to secure automatic promotion like in the EFL — he also joked that he was going to hug Ben Foster so hard that he was “going to break ribs”.
And he wasn’t lying, as was proved when they bumped into each other in the tunnel afterwards:
Moments like this 🤌
Ryan Reynolds embraces @BenFoster in the tunnel after his 97th minute heroics for @Wrexham_AFC ❤️
In typical Deadpool fashion, despite previously insisting he was “lost for words” he couldn’t help but rattle off a few more jokes, quipping that Foster was “too old for that [kind of save]”.
There were obviously a lot of expletives thrown in there too but why wouldn’t there be? We don’t suppose he’s ever sat through what could potentially be a title-deciding game packed with five goals and a last-minute penalty save at a club which he literally owns.
Football is mint and were glad these two owners are clearly well and truly aware of that fact.
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You can watch the highlights from Wrexham vs Notts County down below:
Two Greater Manchester-based Paralympians pick up MBEs following Paris 2024 heroics
Danny Jones
A pair of Paralympians born just down the road and honed two discipline-leading national performance centres here in Manchester have officially been awarded MBEs.
The Northerners doing the country proud – sounds about right.
First off, if the name Poppy Maskill doesn’t ring a bell, the promising Paralympic was Team GB’s best-performing para-athlete at Paris 2024 this past summer, contributing a total of five medals towards the nation’s joint-third-highest tally.
After her heroics at the Games, the teenager who turns 20 this weekend (Saturday, 29 March) was the recipient of an early and very prestigious birthday present, becoming one of the youngest individuals to be made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in history.
She was named on the New Year’s Honours list back in December but finally collected her latest medal in person this week following a ceremony at Windsor Castle, being honoured by King Charles III personally.
Hailing from Middlewich just less than an hour away from our city centre, Maskill might be a Cheshire girl by birth, but this young sporting gem is being polished right here at the state-of-the-art Manchester Aquatics Centre (MAC).
The youngster became the first Paralympian to pick up gold back in August after not only winning the 100m butterfly but smashing the world record in the process, too.
Competing in the S14 class – a category for athletes with intellectual impairments – she finished the heat with in just 1:03, surpassing the previous best by more than half a minute. But her impressive performance didn’t stop there.
MAC regular Maskill went on to win two more golds in the S14 100m backstroke and 4 x100m S14 freestyle relay, as well as a pair of silver medals in the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley S14. Just incredible.
Poppy Maskill wasn’t the only Greater Manchester-based para-athlete who was recognised this month, though, as Stockport‘s very own two-time Paralympic champion Sophie Unwin was also presented with the accolade for her services to sport.
Named a member of the Order along with her co-pilot Jenny Holl, Unwin’s Paris 2024 medal haul included a double of golds in the women’s B 3000m individual pursuit and the road race tandem B, not to mention a silver in the road time trial and a bronze in the 1000m time trial at Paris 2024.
Following in the footsteps of fellow MBE and Stopfordian cycling legend, Dame Sarah Storey, who won her 19th gold medal to become Britain’s greatest Paralympian of all time – having made the most of MAC and the National Cycling Centre over in East Manchester during her career – the borough did us proud.
30-year-old Unwin has kicked on just as strong in the new year as well, notching a narrow victory to set an unofficial (unfortunately) world record of 4:36.737 in the women’s tandem at the 2025 Lloyds National Track Championships here in Manchester.
Former Manchester City player Joey Barton found guilty of assaulting his wife
Danny Jones
Ex-footballer Joey Barton has officially been found guilty of assaulting his wife following his two-day trial in the capital this week.
Barton, who played for Manchester City, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers and a number of other clubs, was convicted at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 25 March, following an incident back in June 2021.
The former midfielder left his wife, 37-year-old Georgia Barton (McNeil), with a bleeding nose and a bruise on her forehead following a drunken row at their home in London.
Barton is said to have grabbed and pushed her to the floor before kicking her in the head. Married in 2019, the two have four children and are thought to still be together.
The 42-year-old was still employed in professional football as the manager of Bristol Rovers at the time, but he was ultimately sacked in October 2023.
His wife called 999 at the time, telling police that he had hit her, but later retracted her statement.
Born in Huyton, Merseyside, the chief magistrate Paul Goldspring recognised that the one-time England has a history of violence.
He was given a 12-week suspended prison sentence, meaning he won’t serve time unless he commits another offence and has been ordered to pay £2,138.
Since dropping out of mainstream football, in particular, Barton has come under heavy criticism for allegations of racism, sexism and controversial right-wing politics; he even started an ‘anti-woke’ podcast called Common Sense with Joey Barton.
Back in June of last year, he was ordered to pay £35,000 in damages to settle a libel claim with presenter Jeremy Vine after a series of inflammatory comments made online.
The Radio 2 presenter sued Mr Barton earlier this year, after the former footballer wrote a series of posts suggesting Mr Vine had a sexual interest in children.
He also accused of threatening fellow former pro, Eni Aluko, after a torrent of abuse regarding her punditry online – the ex-England international even went so far as to say she no longer felt safe staying in the country.
Danny Jones -
11th April 2023 
