“This is what it’s all about…”
Good Friday 2023 was supposed to be a Great Friday. It had all the ingredients.
An Easter Bank Holiday still in its embryonic phase. Springtime sunshine pouring over the rolling green hills of West Yorkshire. Thousands of Reds enthusiastically tottering 70 miles lemming-style behind Pied Piper Parky and his 100-point players, leaving Wrexham behind and turning our home into a ghost town.
The mood was as bright as the weather. The same team that cruised to a 5-1 victory last weekend would be taking to the field again. Even Northern Rail were in a hospitable frame of mind - holding a train at Chester to let a legion of Reds charge across enemy territory and scramble aboard for the 10am service into Calderdale (much to the chagrin of ordinary passengers cradling flasks of tea and homemade scones en route to the Yorkshire Dales).
The carriages swayed with smile and song, faces lit up by flashes of sunlight intermittently punching through the windows and pinging off the bottles of Moretti glistening on the tabletops. Even the arrival at Halifax Train Station was pleasant, as Sergeant Catherine Cawood and her squad welcomed us with open arms, calmly urging fans to gulp down their tinnies rather than confiscating them with wagging fingers.
It was all going to plan. By midday, the town Spoons had been fully annexed by the Red Army - flags draped high over the bannisters as the sweating bar staff flapped around at full speed to feed their Welsh interlopers.
Halifax had fallen, and when 3pm rolled around, it was bedlam. As thousands of blurry-eyed Reds staggered around the concourse, bumping into each other, slapping backs, and stamping over puddles of pints and fast food squished into the concrete, our hosts made the decision to postpone kick-off by fifteen minutes to let things settle down.
It had already been a historic day by the time we’d all squeezed onto the towering old terrace at the north end of The Shay, with Elliot “Twinkle Toes” Lee daring to break some decibel metres by powering home a low drive at the far end of the field.
So, after all this, perhaps it was written that we would ultimately get beat.
YouTube is swimming in footage of Reds fans swallowing up various towns over the years - copied from grubby VHS tapes or recorded in glossy HD. You can spend hours immersing yourself in clips of special away days and narrate as you go. You can talk about who you went with. Who you saw. How you got there. The funny moments. Afternoons full of stories that will last a lifetime. In some cases, the football itself can end up playing second fiddle, or is forgotten entirely. Halifax (A) 2023 will claim a rightful place among this playlist. Everything that was Good about this Friday had nothing to do with the game we went to see.
As early as the 46th minute, it all went pear-shaped. England No.1 turned Vlogger Ben Foster was easily beaten on three separate occasions, whilst a stunning, tragic onset of attacking amnesia ensured Wrexham would lose to a team 51 points below them.
Oh, and County won, too - of course - joining us in the illustrious Century Club and kicking us off the top spot in the division just in time for their Easter Monday visit to Y Cae Ras.
The big picture is different, now. A Notts win on April 10 means the momentum shifts. And if that were to happen, it’s suddenly all in their hands. That’s a thought depressing enough to ruin a Bank Holiday.
But as a wounded Red Army retreated from Halifax, pondering what we had just seen - or rather hadn’t seen - at The Shay, and wondering why our wonderful team didn’t seem to have the same bottle as our mighty fanbase on the day, I was reminded of something a fellow Tech End dweller had said to me the other week. I had been bemoaning the nausea brought on by this unrelenting title see-saw, and he wrapped his arm around me and calmly stated: “This is what it’s all about. There’s going to be a few more twists and turns yet. Let’s enjoy it.”
It was sage advice. This run-in should be something to celebrate, to revel in, and to cherish. This team is special. This season is special. Good Friday was special - it’s not often a travelling fanbase out-supports their hosts. The truth is that we just cannot win them all, and there was always going to be another bump in the road somewhere along the way.
To use football’s most well-worn cliche, we simply have to “go again”. And with gusto, too. Because the next one is the biggie.
What else is there to say about Wrexham vs Notts County? Everyone understands the gargantuan consequences. From Rossett to Ruabon, every inch of our lovely old town will be quivering with anticipation come Monday morning. Notts will fancy their chances, now. But nobody has come to The Racecourse and won in 2023.
Even when Easter is over, we’ll still be none-the-wiser as to who is going to end up champions. There will still be 12 points to play for. Four opportunities for things to go right. Four opportunities for things to go wrong. Four opportunities for so much more to happen.
All we can do is try and enjoy it. So, let’s do that.
Happy Easter, Reds.