THE drinks were on Karl Connolly when he helped Wrexham beat Birmingham City to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals for the third time in the club’s history.

The sides meet tonight in a clash between two of League One’s big guns, 27 years after the Reds sprang one of their famous cup shocks.

Brian Flynn’s side enjoyed a fantastic cup run in the 1996-97 campaign and after knocking out Premier League side West Ham United and then Peterborough United, the Reds’ reward was a fifth round date with the Blues at St Andrews.

Championship outfit Birmingham were favourites to progress but Wrexham, who plied their trade one division below in the third tier, came from behind to win 3-1 and cause another surprise on a memorable day.

“They had a team full of names that people know like Paul Furlong, Paul Devlin, Barry Horne and Steve Bruce but we had nothing to lose,” said Connolly, who made 358 league appearances for Wrexham from 1992 to 2001 and scored 88 goals.

“We had a good cup run. I think we were better in the cup than we were in the league that year so we believed in ourselves more than anything.

“We beat West Ham, who were in the Premier League, in the third round so we were on a high and Birmingham was a really good win, a brilliant day.”

Bruce gave Birmingham, managed by Trevor Francis, the lead at the break but Bryan Hughes levelled early in the second half before Devlin was sent off for the home side.

The game hung in the balance but Tony Humes put Wrexham in front and the cup upset was completed when Connolly raced clear in the final minute to score and make sure of victory.

Wrexham were through to the sixth round but it ended up costing Connolly in the pocket.

“I did a drink-thing when I scored. My celebration was like I was pouring a drink down my neck!” said Connolly.

“My family followed me everywhere and I said if we win this game and we get a bonus, the ale is on me.

“Every round we got through we got a bonus and when we won at Birmingham, they held me to it. I took them round Prescott where I’m from.

“It was happy days for my family because they spent all my bonus money.”

The ball took an eternity to find the back of the net after Connolly connected with it.

“I remember it well because their full-back Michael Johnson got injured just before it and he was hobbling,” said Connolly.

“When the ball bounced I thought he was just going to try and boot it over the top so I just gambled.

“I think he had five yards on me but I didn’t think he would get to it first and with my pace and power, I got on the end of it.

“But it was the longest goal ever to go in. It was like slow motion.

“I thought it was going to hit the post and Steve Watkin was going to get a tap-in but it just crept in to make it 3-1.”

The cup adventure came to an end in the last eight when Wrexham lost 1-0 against Chesterfield, who were also in Division Two, at Saltergate.

But there was some form of revenge for the Reds towards the end of the 1999-2000 season when Connolly scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 Reds win which condemned the Spireites to relegation to the fourth tier.

“It was really disappointing to lose in the quarter-finals because in all the time I was at Wrexham, Chesterfield never beat us,” added the Wrexham legend.

“It was the first time they beat us.

“But I scored a hat-trick which got them sent down a few years later when we won so that made me feel a bit better.”

Wrexham’s last trip to St Andrews was also in the cup where the Reds lost 4-1 in extra time in the second round of the League Cup in 2006.