Phil Parkinson urged his Wrexham players to embrace the magic of the FA Cup after booking their place in the fifth round with a 1-0 win over Ipswich Town on Friday. 

Josh Windass scored the only goal in a battle between two Championship play-off hopefuls at SToK Cae Ras, continuing Wrexham's fairytale association with the competition. 

Wrexham memorably reached the fourth round of the competition when they were a National League club in 2022-23, beating Coventry City before losing to Sheffield United. 

They fell at the same stage the following campaign, but with victory over Ipswich, they reached the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time since 1996-97. 

Parkinson's team are enjoying a stunning season in the Championship, currently sitting sixth in the table in what is their first season in the second tier since 1981-82. 

And the Wrexham boss wants his players to continue their respective runs in the FA Cup and the league, with a trip to Bristol City up next on February 17. 

"This club has a lot of history in the FA Cup, and we spoke to the players about that, 'can we create our own bit of history by making it to the fifth round for the first time in thirty years?'," Parkinson said. 

"Our confidence isn't low. We've got the squad to cope, I think there's too much talk in football about how we're going to cope with another game.

"Every season is special in football, and you've got to enjoy nights like this, enjoy the tradition of the FA Cup.

"We set up to get through, and we have, and now we're going to embrace this run of games and go full-on to try and keep our run in the league and the cup going."

Job done, into the Fifth Round we go

#WxmAFC pic.twitter.com/UJ1VBSO5QO

— Wrexham AFC (@Wrexham_AFC) February 13, 2026

For Ipswich, meanwhile, they have now been eliminated in 11 of their last 13 FA Cup fourth round ties. 

The Tractor Boys have also bowed out in 16 of their last 19 ties in the competition overall when facing an opponent from the same division or a higher division than them.

And in what was their 33rd game of the season, Ipswich failed to have a single shot on target for the first time in 2025-26, much to the frustration of boss Kieran McKenna. 

"I thought we started both halves well, but we weren't able to get the goal," McKenna said. 

"In the second half, we tried everything, and we really pushed to get back in the game, but we just couldn't get back into the game.

"We're disappointed tonight, disappointed for the supporters that we couldn't go through, but we'll use the lessons from tonight, and it'll stand us in the weeks ahead.

"It's good to come here, and it was the first time here for a lot of people, and obviously we're here again next Saturday.

"We learned a bit about here and learned about their team, so we've got to use those lessons for next week."