Ryan Reynolds celebrates ‘ride of our lives’ as Wrexham seal promotion

Ryan Reynolds has said that he and Rob McElhenney are having the “ride of our lives” following another Wrexham promotion.

The Deadpool star, 47, co-owns the club with fellow Hollywood actor McElhenney. They previously secured promotion to League Two last year, and a 6-0 victory over Forest Green Rovers on Saturday means they will play in League One next season, as they cannot now finish below the top three automatic promotion places.

Elliot Lee opened the scoring for Wrexham before Paul Mullin scored twice, either side of Ryan Inniss’s own goal, as the hosts hit four before the break. Ryan Barnett and Jack Marriott then found the net in the second half.

On X, formerly Twitter, Reynolds wrote: “A few years ago, if you told me I would be crying tears of joy over a football match taking place in North Wales, you would be Rob McElhenney. Congrats to Wrexham and to my co-chairman in crime. Double up the town! This is the ride of our lives.”

Reacting to the Welsh team beating Forest Green 6-0, McElhenney wrote on social media site X saying: “No words” along with a heart emoji.

Since McElhenney and Reynolds’ takeover in February 2021, they have contributed to worldwide attention for the team. The FX documentary show Welcome To Wrexham, which has had two seasons with a third series to air in May, has earned five Emmys including outstanding unstructured reality programme.

Stockport fans were also celebrating, after their 2-0 win over Morecambe confirmed their promotion, with fans celebrating on the pitch at the end. County, who had been in the top three since October, only needed only a point to guarantee going up.

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Elsewhere, third-placed Mansfield moved to within a win of sealing their place in League One as they earned a 4-1 victory at MK Dons, who missed the chance to leapfrog the Stags into the final automatic promotion spot.

The other three sides in the top seven were all beaten with Crewe losing 3-0 at home to Grimsby, 10-man Barrow going down by the same score at Gillingham and Crawley losing 3-2 at home to Colchester, who jumped out of the relegation zone at the expense of Sutton, who drew 2-2 at Harrogate.

In League One, Portsmouth missed the chance to seal promotion, as they were held to a 1-1 draw away at third-place Bolton. John Mousinho’s team looked to be heading for the victory they required to win back their place in the Championship for the first time in 12 years when Abu Kamara scored after just seven minutes, before Aaron Collins’ goal before half-time put Pompey’s celebrations on hold.

It means Portsmouth require just a single point from their final three games to earn promotion. Bolton slipped four points behind second-placed Derby, who beat Leyton Orient 3-0 thanks to two strikes from Sonny Bradley and an own goal from George Moncur.

Peterborough saw their hopes of automatic promotion all but extinguished as they were hammered 5-0 at sixth-placed Oxford, who consolidated their playoff prospects. Barnsley also moved a step closer to a top-six finish with a 2-2 draw at home to struggling Reading, the substitute Fábio Jaló scoring seven minutes from time to rescue a point.

Blackpool’s 1-0 win at relegated Carlisle kept them in touch with the playoff pack. Fleetwood kept their slims hopes of avoiding relegation alive with a 2-0 win at home to Northampton, though Burton’s 2-1 win against Stevenage means Charlie Adam’s side are six points adrift with three games to play.

Port Vale missed the chance to escape the bottom four, losing 4-2 at home to Exeter, and Cheltenham remain five points off safety after they were beaten 3-1 by Bristol Rovers.