Ryan Reynolds sends message to Tom Brady after Wrexham AFC's defeat to Birmingham City | OneFootball

Wrexham's co-owner delivered a message to the Birmingham shareholder after the Blues ran out 3-1 winners over the Red Dragons on Monday night.

Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds has sent a gracious post-game message to Birmingham City stakeholder Tom Brady following Monday night's Hollywood clash that saw the Blues claim a 3-1 victory over the Red Dragons.

Reynolds took to his Instagram account to congratulate Brady and Birmingham, after he watched his Wrexham side squander an early lead at St. Andrew's, as Blues took charge of the game and ran out fairly comfortable winners in the end.

It was a game that lived up to the excitement surrounding it beforehand, as the battle between the two American-owned League One heavyweights had great goals, crunching tackles, and an electric atmosphere.

Monday night's affair was a fantastic advert for League One, and indeed the English footballing pyramid. The two sides will meet again on 25 January 2025, and judging from the fierceness of their opening bout, Wrexham won't be rolling out the red carpet when Birmingham come to town.

Reynolds sends Brady post-game message

In football, sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and accept that the opposing team were better on the night, and that's precisely what Reynolds did after Birmingham's victory over Wrexham.

Posting to his Instagram post-match, Reynolds said: "Tough loss to a good club. Congrats @bcfc, @tombrady on the win. Lots of season yet to go. Up The Town. Now and forever."

Wrexham tasted defeat for the first time in League One this season at St. Andrew's, leaving the two clubs locked together as joint-top with the Town having played one game more than Brum, whilst boasting a slightly better goal difference too.

It will serve as somewhat of a reality check after their dream start to the campaign, even though everyone from a Wrexham persuasion was under no illusions as to how challenging their return to League One football would be for the first time in two decades.

Birmingham's £10m+ League One record signing Jay Stansfield made all the difference on the night, as his two goals put the Blues 2-1 ahead after Jack Marriot's early strike put Wrexham ahead, before fellow Deadline Day recruit Tomoki Iwata fired home his first City goal to secure all three points.

In a game that saw tensions bubbling away throughout, tempers reached boiling point towards the end, as a prolonged scuffle broke out primarily involving Paul Mullin, Krystian Bielik and James McClean.

Bielik would be shown a second yellow card minutes later, after a rush of blood-type foul gave referee Scott Oldham no option but to send the Birmingham defender walking.

We could be in for a fantastic League One title race this season

As Reynolds, McElhenney and Brady can attest to, whether it's on the big screen or in the world of professional sport, so many of the great storylines involve two rival contenders vying for superiority.

Every great hero must have an equally persistent villain who refuses to allow them to rest. In the case of the 2024/25 League One season, Wrexham and Birmingham look set to write a narrative that would befit their stars of the screen investors.

Without wanting to discount any other team as being capable of rivaling either of these two clubs in the race for automatic promotion this season, the early showings would suggest that Wrexham and Birmingham City could be a class above the majority of the division.

If so, their race for the title could be one of the best season-long duels to watch in a very long time, from a neutral perspective anyway.