Wrexham ace savagely gets revenge on player who twice mocked Ryan Reynolds' team
Wrexham midfielder Elliot Lee dedicated the Welsh club's 1-0 win over local rivals Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup third round to opposition defender Tom Flanagan.
Lee, 29, was named man of the match after the weekend's win and spoke to Welsh broadcasters S4C following the final whistle. Beside him stood Tom O'Connor, who scored the game's only goal in the 72nd minute to decide the tie.
But the first question went to Lee, and he used that as an opportunity to remind everyone about Flanagan's pre-game comments. The Northern Ireland international was keen to stress in the build-up that, despite Wrexham's popularity, they played in the National League a year ago, two divisions below League One 's Shrewsbury.
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"I’m big on the respect thing between football clubs, but let’s make it known, they’re a League Two team; they’re coming here as a League Two team," he told BBC Radio Shropshire's Salopcast. "Other League Two teams have come here, and we’ve beaten them.
"So the expectation is that we beat them, whether it’s a local derby or not, they’re a League Two team. Who owns them, what they wear, who they are has absolutely no bearing on the game whatsoever.
"I’ve seen a few things, and it’s like we’ve drawn a Premier League team, it’s certainly not the case, they were semi-professional footballers last season." It is the latter point that Lee brought back up after the final whistle.
Elliot Lee, the son of former England international Rob Lee, has been one of Wrexham's top performers in League Two this season, scoring 13 goals from midfield (Gareth Evans/News Images)Asked about the match, he replied: "Yeah, I think we knew as a team the importance of the game coming into it. It was always going to be a tough battle, they're a big, physical team, and, obviously, being a local rivalry, it was going to be a great game.
"But I thought the boys were outstanding today, we came here to do exactly what we wanted to do. I think it could have been even more, and it's a great performance."
Lee continued: "And I'd like to dedicate that to one of their players, Tom Flanagan, who said that we were full of semi-pro players last year. So, that one's for you, mate!"
The National League, which Wrexham won last year to achieve promotion into League Two, is the highest semi-professional division in the football league system. However, plenty of professional clubs play in it, including Wrexham last year, whose players were all professionals.
Last season, only three out of the 24 teams in the National League - Dorking Wanderers, Maidenhead United and Maidstone United - were not full-time. But despite the disparity in divisions, Wrexham won back the bragging rights over their cross-border rivals.
They last played almost 16 years ago, in April 2008, with Shrewsbury winning 3-0. A month later, the Welsh club dropped from League Two into the fifth tier, where they stayed for the following 15 seasons before finally earning promotion out of the National League.
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