Ryan Reynolds has joked that watching Wrexham 's remarkable 6-5 victory over Dover Athletic on Saturday took "nine years off his life" and apologised to his family.
The National League promotion chasers were 5-2 down with half an hour remaining at the Racecourse Ground, as their hopes of reaching League Two were set to suffer a blow. But a brace from Ollie Palmer and added-time strikes from Jordan Davies and Daniel Jarvis secured a dramatic three points in an 11-goal thriller.
In his elation post-match, Wrexham co-owner Reynolds took to Twitter and wrote: "I just lost 9 years off my life. And I'm okay with that. Apologies to my family. Also, bury me in Wales." The result puts the Welsh outfit top of the play-off places, leapfrogging a free-falling Chesterfield to move 10 points behind champions elect Stockport County.
Early goals from star striker Paul Mullin and James Jones put Wrexham on course to record a routine win against the team rooted to the bottom of the table, having started the day on minus four points. But two Dover goals inside six minutes made it 2-2 before the 30-minute mark, as George Wilkinson - with a sumbline volley - and Alfie Pavey drew them level.
Michael Gyasi then scored a 12-minute hat-trick in the second half to hand his side in a seemingly unassailable lead, but thanks to Palmer's double, Phil Parkinson 's men had the chance for some late drama - and they did just that. With Davies netting in the 91st minute to rescue at least a point, Jarvis managed incredible 98th-minute winner.
It certainly gave Reynolds a shock, who recently opened up on the "gorgeous torture" he and Rob McElhenney 's club provide. "Wrexham had its own unique brand of glamour and excitement before I got there. Both me and Rob, we love it. It's such a passion project," Reynolds explained on ITV 's Lorraine.
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"Football in general has really been both the best and the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I get it now, I understand the beautiful game as much as I can understand it at this stage in life and it's a unique brand of gorgeous torture that I’ve never experienced before. I love it with all of my heart and it also breaks my heart on a pretty regular basis."
The Hollywood duo have lofty ambitions at the Racecourse ground and Reynolds revealed in October: "We'd be lying if the dream wasn't Premier League," before McElhenney added: "No one has gone from our league all the way up to the Premier League but some clubs have gone from the National League to the Championship.
"So we're obviously going to try and go above that - maybe this is just my own naivety. [But] we clearly have the structure and system potentially to allow us to grow at that scale. Why not dream big?" If Wrexham can pull off results like this from time to time, the dizzy heights of top-flight football might not sound too crazy.
