The opening round saw Hull City travel to Wrexham’s famous Racecourse Ground as they looked to break their ‘curse’ in the EFL cup, stated by The Tigers new manager Sergej Jakirovic earlier this week. 

After a frantic start, it was the men in red who struck first. Elliot Lee, received the ball on the edge of the box, glided past two defenders and saw his deflected shot trickle past the helpless Dillon Phillips, into the goal on the half hour mark.

The lead lasted a matter of minutes. A driving run from Cody Drameh after link-up play with winger Joe Gelhardt, ended with a by-line cross that found an outstretched Ollie McBurnie. The new number nine tucked away his first goal for the Tigers, equalising the fixture.

Wrexham started the second half brightly but couldn’t convert their chances. Fluidity began to ooze through the heart of the Tigers, with new signing John Lundstram at the base of the midfield starting the passing moves, Casey Palmer drifting dangerously in the final third and McBurnie holding play up. The breakthrough came in the 70^th minute after deep lofted ball from Lundstrum found Gelhardt, who beat his man and calmly squared the ball for Manchester City loanee Joel Ndala to put City a head.

Six minutes later, the visitors struck again. Palmer’s cross rebounded back to him, and his second attempted pass found Matt Crooks who tapped it home, who probably scored one of the easiest goals he ever will. The score was 3-1 with less than 10 minutes to go, Hull City was in full control, while the away fans taunted the home side after every completed pass.

As “Mauled by the Tigers” echoed around the Racecourse and streams of red was seeping out of the stadium, City were bound to finally enter round two of the EFL Cup, which they haven’t done in five years. James McClean swung a pinpoint cross that saw Ollie Palmer climb above two defenders and headed it home, giving fans hope.

Just a few minutes left on the clock after the restart, Hull just needed to hold on. 70 seconds later, the tired Tigers lost the ball and the energetic dragons fired on. Sprinting down the right flank, Ryan Barnett’s whipped cross found Palmer again, whose head equalised the match at 3-3 and took the tie to penalties.

McClean confidently fired home the first penalty Infront of the red wall, and the Dragons scored their next four. Hull City’ hopes ended when Ndala smashed his penalty against the crossbar, handing Wrexham a dramatic 5-3 victory from the spot.

Wrexham’s late magic and flawless penalties completed a remarkable comeback, moving swiftly into the next round. For the Tigers, history has once again repeated itself and find themselves out of this competition in the first round again.