Once Upon A Smile Match Reunites Wrexham Legends

A crowd of over 2000 people turned out this afternoon to see some of Wrexham’s greatest players of the past few decades take on a team of soap stars, talent show contestants, and ex-professional footballers.

For Wrexham/Wales legends, the build-up had mainly been about a trio of the best attackers to have graced the Racecourse in recent years. Gary Bennett, Juan Ugarte, and Karl Connolly started the match together, and with Mickey Thomas ready to pull the strings in midfield – ably supported by Gareth Owen and Bryan ‘Yosser’ Hughes – and Waynne Phillips defending alongside Wales legends Clayton Blackmore, Chris Coleman and Kit Symons, fans at the game were confident the upstart celebrities would be put in their place. Waterloo Road actors Dean Smith and Will Rush, Emmerdale’s Danny Miller, ex-Wrexham winger Neil Wainwright and their teammates, though, had other ideas!

As ever for a charity game like this, the match took some time to get going, with many spectators using the early moments of the match to explain to younger fans just why we were so excited about seeing so many of our heroes on the same team. Mickey’s goal against Arsenal, Juan’s LDV final heroics, Yosser’s goals in the 1997 FA Cup campaign and Psycho’s goal-poaching were all remembered fondly. Today, though, it was clear that most were capable of merely flashes of brilliance rather than the sustained excellence we saw for so long – but oh, what moments we had!

With the legends looking rather shell-shocked after conceding two quick goals against the run of play, Connolly darted in and chipped a cross for Hughes to power a bullet header into the net and reduce the deficit. Ugarte gave fans that rarest of sights, a goal from him at the Racecourse, with a 20-yard thunderbolt worth the price of admission alone. Mickey showed some of his skills with the ball, while Bennett shamelessly played to the crowd, giving a lineswoman a quick kiss and swan diving after one tackle to cheers from the older members of the crowd – and a description of him as being ‘very Eastenders’ from the match announcer.

While the soap stars came back to score five all told, the legends fought their hardest, bringing on subs including Lee Jones, Andy Legg, and WST President Bryn Law. The biggest crowd reaction of the day, though, was perhaps for someone who’s only been gone from the club a month or so. Glen Little often looked a class above even full-time professionals on the occasions he featured for Wrexham last season, so it’s no surprise that he shone in this company. Two goals from him weren’t quite enough to pull the game back, but thrilled the crowd all the same.

All in all, this was a triumph of youth over experience, but the real winners were charity Once Upon A Smile, who raised thousands of pounds, and the fans, who got to see some of the top Wrexham players of recent times for perhaps the last time. Hopefully many of the families who enjoyed the day will return in a few weeks time to see Wrexham’s current squad – future legends in the making – prepare for a promotion campaign with friendlies against Blackburn, Wolves and Tranmere. Those games are on Saturday 6th July, Tuesday 16th July, and Saturday 27th July respectively.