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Neil Mellor mocked over muted reaction on Sky Sports to dramatic Ben Foster penalty save

Neil Mellor was mocked over his rather muted reaction on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday to the dramatic Ben Foster penalty save.

The dull reaction of commentator Neil Mellor to Ben Foster’s penalty save was compared to Paul Parker’s similar response back in the day.

Foster was the hero for Wrexham’s crucial match against Notts County late on in injury time.

He leapt to his left to stop the ball and kept the scoreline at 3-2. This put Wrexham back to the top of National League.

Wrexham fans went wild after Foster’s save, but Neil Mellor was watching the spectacle for Sky Sports and failed to show any kind of excitement for what was one of the most dramatic moments of all time in the division.

He described the build up to the penalty, with Cedwyn Scott’s spot kick saved and his face looked rather blank, a lack of reaction.

The pundit then gave a more mundane account of the events that didn’t exactly reflect the joy of the moment.

His drab commentary was rather reminiscent of Paul Parker, who described one of Arsenal’s goals in the Europa League against Ostersunds back in 2018.

Parker was adamant that the Gunners scored and simply referred to the goal as a casual comment while reviewing the proceedings.

Ryan Reynolds, Wrexham’s owner, made up for his lackadaisical commentator, feeling all pumped up on BT Sport and declared that he would hug Foster so hard that his ribs would break.

Phil Parkinson warned the title race was far from over after Wrexham inflicted a 3-2 defeat on Notts County.

“Of course it’s a step in the right direction but there’s a lot of work to be done,” said Wrexham manager Parkinson, whose side have four games remaining.

“The title race is not over until it’s mathematically ours. We’ve got work to be done, we’ve got to keep going.

“We’ve got to keep our feet firmly on the ground because we’ve achieved nothing yet.”

Parkinson, who felt the penalty award for handball was harsh, said: “Strikers produce big moments and goalkeepers equally, big players come up with the goods when it matters most.

“Fozzy is a huge presence, what a save. I feel that maybe he got in the lad’s mind a bit.

“You wouldn’t want any other goalkeeper in the goal with a last-minute penalty against him.

“It was a big moment for Fozzy, I brought him in for those moments and one’s happened today.

“But I’m very proud of the performance because when you have a huge game like this it’s important you turn up and we certainly did that.

“Friday’s defeat at Halifax was a bit of a wake-up call to us. We’ll use that to keep going for the rest of the season.”

Speaking after the game, Notts County boss Luke Williams said to BBC Radio Nottingham: “We knew that we were always chasing and we had an opportunity to make it much more difficult for them, but I think now the momentum is with them and we have to try to apply maximum pressure by winning our remaining games.

“We knew it was going to be a very tough challenge. With Wrexham dropping points on Friday we felt like maybe there is a difference, but coming here we were ultimately unable to turn them over and I think we’re back in the same position as before.

“We would prefer to draw the game of course, but I think in the grand scheme of things it would not have made a huge difference.

“I leave it to the players – with 10 seconds on the clock away to Wrexham when both teams are on 100 points, the guy who is willing to take the penalty, and Cedwyn wanted to take the penalty, I am fine with that.

“I would always back Cedwyn with his quality of strike to finish but he is up against a very good goalkeeper.”

Ryan Reynolds described the fact that only one side can be automatically promoted from the National League as “insane”.

“It’s just insane to me in this league that only one goes up automatically,” he told BT Sport after Wrexham had moved three points clear of Notts County with a game in hand.

“If it were different – and I think it should be – both of these clubs would be celebrating together right now because what they’ve done is not only created drama unlike anything you’d ever see in a damn movie, but something that I think people will be talking about for ages.

“The fact that this much attention has come upon the National League in this way is incredibly special and immensely worthy of the talents of not only Wrexham, but Notts County as well.

“I don’t feel like I have a heart any more. I think I used all the beats I had left during that match. That was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and indicative of all of you lifers who have watched and participated in this beautiful, torturous game.

“I’m used to working under extreme pressure but usually I have some kind of say in it and some control over it. I have nothing here. All I can do is watch and hope like everybody else.

“I am actually grateful in this moment that I didn’t care about this years ago because it would have just eaten me alive. It’s troubling how hooked I am. I don’t know how to quantify what just happened.

“I feel an immense sense of pride, the inner strength these guys have. It’s such a mental game and they rose to the occasion in every way. But also what makes it so special is how powerful and unique Notts County is. There’s a real story here.

“What they’ve done this season, losing their CEO Jason Turner (who died last month), and I have enormous respect for what they’ve built and everything they’ve done. It was a pressure cooker coming into this for both teams. But what both have achieved is historic on every level, I don’t think I have seen anything quite like that.”

Rob McElhenney said he “can’t believe” there was a time when he thought football was boring.

“I can’t believe there was a time when I thought football was boring. I’ve never seen either one of us make these faces. Football is madness.”

Meanwhile, Ben Foster said post-match: ‘Rob kissed me fully on the lips and Ryan called me a double handsome b*****d,’ Foster said after the game. ‘I’ll take that.’

‘They’re so happy, if you could order an absolute bob on, top of the class, top of the range owner, then you would just package them two up because they are as good as it gets.

‘It means so much to them, they care so much, they do it properly. I’ve been here for what three weeks now and it’s ran so professionally you would not believe. It is ridiculous how they run it, so fair play to them they deserve all they get.’

On the save itself, he added: ‘You just dive and hope for the best. If you go the right way and get your hand on it, you’d like to think you’ll save it.’

‘This is non-league, we fill this out every week, 10,000 fans – the most passionate… we took 4,500 away to Halifax last week, we put in an awful performance and we needed to win big today.

‘Obviously we’re [Wrexham and Notts County] far and away better than the rest of the teams, so they need to look at that.”

Reynolds added to BT Sport: ‘When I get my hands on Ben Foster he’s going to be on the injured reserve list. I’m going to break ribs I’m going to hug him so hard.’

‘I’m used to working under extreme pressure, but usually I have some kind of control over it. I have nothing here, all I can do is watch and hope like everybody else.

‘It was a pressure cooker coming into it for both of these teams. What both have achieved is historic on every level and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like that.’

As mentioned, was Neil Mellor mocked over his muted reaction on Sky Sports to the dramatic Ben Foster penalty save…

@dingjme: Calm down Neil

@gaknezz: Jesus mate don’t get too excited

@StefOOC: Imagine this guy and Martin Tyler as your leader commentators

@AverageStriker: Did they have Neil Mellor reporting from the local library?

@mrcollins1986: Raw emotion from Mellor there. Jesus Christ.

@MMcanaulty: Is he trying not to wake his mum and dad up in the next room? Why is he whispering?

@_GC_1: Talk about going over the top. Calm yourself down 😂

@BenMeadBCFC: You won’t see a pundit more excited to cover a game ever, great to see

@RogueBaboon57: 96th minute penalty save in a top of the table clash to give Wrexham the win. Neil Mellor does really well to capture the emotion here.

@CFCFolshed: My grandmother burial last year had more life in it.

@FNSAFC11: Get people like this out of the job, boring and not to enthusiastic is it 😭

@H4rryH4rris: Wouldn’t like a night out with Neil mellor

@thomscff: Fuck me mate I celebrate more when I realise I’m having bangers and mash for dinner

@tangangaweireld: Jesus christ sack the bloke in the morning what a pathetic bit of commentary

@JamieDomican: Jesus christ Mellor, calm down will ye

@bowewinsmecash: Ease up on the excitement there fella. Only the biggest moment of the national league season

@AFCRRE: he needs to relax my ears almost started bleeding

@dfitzgeralds: Strange commentary from @NeilMellor33 throughout the match. Seemed like Sky told him to play it down so viewers wouldn’t switch over to BT 😅

@JBFC18: The most boring commentary ever

@j_e_b7: Bloody hell mate, might get some noise complaints there

@Allandavies9: Chill out mellor lad ya nutter

@topgooner100: Someone calm this dude down some OTT reaction there 🤣

@Callumw_15: Think he needs to calm down

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