Phil Parkinson’s on-a-roll Reds face Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup and it’s 44 years since the two teams last met.
It was back in Wrexham’s final flirtation in the old Second Division on February 27 1982.
Wrexham won 1-0 at The Racecourse but who scored the only goal and what was the attendance?
The answers of Frank Carrodus and 3,935 will stun the most ardent Reds fans.
Midfielder Carrodus only scored eight goals in his 117 Wrexham appearances but the former Manchester City and Aston Villa player remembers it well.
“I’m sure it was a header from a corner and I remember that because I didn’t score many headers,” said Carrodus, now 76 and living just across the Cheshire border in Timperley.
“I’m really surprised at the attendance that day but maybe that was a sign of the times!”
It was a momentous match for Carrodus as he brought up a century of Wrexham appearances against a Chelsea team who were managed by ex-Reds supremo John Neal.
“I enjoyed my time at Wrexham,” added Carrodus. “We had some good players - Dixie McNeil - he was a great finisher - and Joey Jones - what a great player and funny man he was.
“Ian Edwards was there too and he’s the one I keep in touch with from the team of that day.
“They were a good set of lads, who made me feel very welcome when I signed.”
It was Arfon Griffiths who tempted Carrodus to leave Villa three years after he produced a man of the match display to dump Wrexham out of the League Cup.
Carrodus scored in a 5-1 win - and ex-Wrexham manager Brian Little bagged two - after Graham Whittle had given Wrexham the lead in a fourth round tie at Villa Park on October 27 1976.
Griffiths forked out £70,000 for Carrodus, who was 30 at the time and recovering from a serious knee operation.
That was £30,000 more than Ron Saunders paid Manchester City to take Carrodus to the West Midlands as his career really took off in the mid-Seventies.
“I’m a firm believer in fate and that’s what happened when City signed me,” added Carrodus.
“I was playing part-time for Altrincham while studying civil engineering in college. I came on after 10 minutes and had a cracking game.
“Ian Mellor and Ron Healey were on loan from City whose manager Malcolm Allison was in the crowd checking up on them.
“I played out of my skin and ended up signing for City.”
Soon he was playing alongside City legends Francis Lee, Colin Bell and Rodney Marsh and helped them win the League Cup in 1974.
More League Cup glory followed at Villa three years later after Saunders had come back to former club City to snap up Carrodus.
“We beat Liverpool 5-1 and Arsenal and had a really good team,” said Carrodus.
“But I picked up a knee injury, had my cartilage removed and went through a pretty bad time.
“Wrexham came in for me and Arfon said he’d remembered me from that cup tie a few years before.”
Carrodus more than proved his fitness in north Wales, especially in the torturous pre-season training programme on the Aberystwyth sand dunes.
“I was fit, I’d always been as a youngster and I think I did well in those dune runs,” recalled Carrodus.
“Dennis Mortimer - the ex-Villa captain - was asked about players fitness and he mentioned me at an after-dinner speech where he described me as ‘three-lungs Carrodus’.
“On the dune runs, Les Cartwright was always up there as one of the fittest.”
Carrodus’ first goal for Wrexham was in a New Year’s Day 2-0 win over Preston in 1980 while his winner against Chelsea in 1982 was just as precious as his winner in another 1-0 home victory over arch rivals, Shrewsbury Town.
He played in Wrexham’s last game in Division Two - a 3-2 home win over Rotherham in 1982 - and 44 years on he’s delighted to see his old club enjoying success.
“They’ve had a great few years and it’s a great tie to get Chelsea at home in the FA Cup,” he added.
“The FA Cup can throw up lots of great stories and I was in the Wrexham team that beat Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest at the City Ground too!
“I’m sure they were European champions at the time. So when you talk about FA Cup giant-killings, that’s up there with them.”