Dangling the derby carrot
Our main rivals are still rubbish even in reincarnated form - but now attention turns to Ghostbusting in Boreham Wood...
Signed, Seals, Undelivered
“If you hate Wrexham, stand up!” honked 3,000 Flintshire Seals in North East Wales on Tuesday night, as a former Wrexham player put them in front against a team of sloppy Rag Puddings in extra time of their FA Cup qualifier.
They all had a very good reason to be banging their flippers, of course. This goal had seemingly set up the Big One: The game that RR McReynolds had always pledged to win, but never really expected to play.
See, the previous evening, Homes Under the Hammer star Dion Dublin had mischievously plucked a white ball from the big FA Cup pit and dangled the Welsh Bonfire Derby carrot right in front of us. If Wrexham and Chester each won their respective replays, they’d collide in an explosive encounter on Guy Fawkes Day.
Holy, Moly.
By 10pm on Tuesday, The Reds had already done their bit - limping over the line into the next round after resisting a savage second-half onslaught from John the Toaster and his fearless army of Gerard Butlers (although a lochos of Spartans missed the drama after their bus cruelly packed in at Lancaster services).
By 10.21pm, City - sorry, FC - had almost completed their task, too. All they had to do was survive one more minute.
But like a second draught pint at Penny Black, Chester V2 prove to be as equally insipid as the first.
The Blues conceded an equaliser in the 119th minute - a goal scored by our old pal Mike “Floss” Fondop - and lost on pens to Oldham.
There would be no derby after all.
A strange, sundry response of schadenfreude, irritation and relief greeted the result among Reds fans and NW Police - whose expressions would have yo-yoed from grins to grimaces when they remembered a Wrexham-Oldham tie would still prove to be just as much of a peacekeeping nightmare. Indeed, kick-off for that one has already been shifted to lunchtime on the Sabbath.
But whether you wanted Chester or didn’t, it doesn’t matter now. The big picture is that we’re through to the first round proper, and the stage is set for an FA Cup run to remember.
But Bonfire Night is barely a colourful speck in the distance this weekend. Immediate attention turns towards a decidedly less appealing fixture in the league…
The Ghosts of Meadow Park
A hike to Hertfordshire beckons this weekend as the Reds wander through Southern England to Boreham Wood - a toddler of a club backed by 700 passive supporters each week.
Wood - aka Mini Arsenal - aren’t exactly the biggest nor the most popular team in the fifth tier, but they are proving that history and crowds count for absolutely jack shit down here. Indeed, manager Luke Garrard has piloted his diminutive aircraft right up into the non-league clouds in 2022 - flying high alongside former Football League Airbuses like ourselves, Chesterfield and Notts County.
Wood are having a good old season, but even if they weren’t, Reds fans probably wouldn’t be bouncing with excitement at the prospect of revisiting Meadow Park given what happened there back in May.
Indeed, it’s a good job that Tyler French still isn’t with us this season - as the poor lad would have likely experienced some sort of Vietnam Flashback upon seeing the same 18-yard box where he made a catastrophic foul to gift 10-man Wood a point in May (a result which put one Quasi Manc hand on the title).
If only ex-Wrexham-player-turned-ghostbuster Derek Acorah was alive today: We could do with some help to banish the demonic memories of Meadow Park that have haunted us since last year.
Still, it’s worth us remembering the past is the past, and when things are going good, you’re better looking ahead rather than back. Garrard’s gang will certainly vouch for that. Boreham Wood might be younger than Dixie McNeil, but they are scribbling fiercely to write a fresh chapter in the history books by going for promotion. They will be tough competition on Saturday - buoyed by Wrexham’s slightly ropey away record.
It’s a tricky one to call. Would we be happy with a point?
The Red allocation is pretty much maxed out again, and by the time kick-off rolls around, the mood among the Welsh will be more optimistic.
We’re nearly a third of the way through the season already and things are looking pretty damn decent.
With Rob Lainton, RHJ and Harry Lennon all back in full training again and four home games on the bounce starting with Halifax next week - the best may still be yet to come…