Wrexham’s free-standing goals leave fans baffled as bounce-back strikes spark delays | OneFootball

Wrexham’s free-standing goals are confusing supporters, shots are striking a thick base tube and bouncing back into play.

NY Times reports that a £1.7million relaid pitch to UEFA’s 105m by 68m size, rather than Wrexham’s 102.5 by 66, led to temporary free-standing goals this season.

The first incident came in August’s Carabao Cup, Hull visiting, when Joel Ndala’s strike made it 2-1 yet celebrations were delayed.

It happened again in last weekend’s FA Cup fifth round against Chelsea, the Argentinian turned in Dario Essugo’s cross, the ball rebounded and some of the 10,556 thought he had missed. Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior looked baffled before being told it was 3-2.

On Tuesday night, Wrexham’s Nathan Broadhead scored from close range and the ball again hit the base before flying out.

The Racecourse Ground hosts the UEFA Under-19s European Championship from June 29 to July 11, and extra concrete sockets were installed for both UEFA posts and rugby posts under Welsh Government grant terms.

For this campaign the goals were inspected and approved by PGMOL, and Hawkeye confirms every time the ball crosses the line.

One option is to add four more sockets this summer for conventional goals aligned to the preferred size, although the grass would need time to regrow and a 2025-26 play-off run could limit the window.

Source: NY Times