The incessant game of leapfrog goes on…
This author witnessed two car crashes on Saturday. And they happened just moments apart.
One involved frazzled Christmas shoppers colliding vehicles in slow-motion in a chocka shopping centre car park. The other took place inside the York City Leisure Stadium just a few yards away - as the Wrexham title wagon managed to spectacularly veer off the open path to vital victory and tumble into a ditch with a draw.
Somehow, a lunch-time weekend kick-off in charming North Yorkshire had become the scene of a multi-car pile-up.
And for a time, we were left stranded there.
Our ride back to York city centre - which was thronged with gawking tourists pointing at tall buildings and carol singers serenading leathered hen party members staggering into ancient ruins - had already gone, with the bendy shuttle bus departing at maximum capacity.
So, a search for an Uber commenced.
Standing on the baltic pavement between a Brazilian bar & grill and a Nando’s, craning our necks for a taxi driver buried somewhere in the twinkle of headlights crawling in and out of the retail complex that surrounded the Minstermen stadium, we were acutely aware of our status as the last few football fans standing - with most of the 7,000 York v Wrexham attendees osmotically replaced by local residents arriving for a spot of Saturday shopping.
The only remaining football personality left seemed to be BT Sports pundit Aaron Mclean, who was standing at the far end of the tarmac digging his hand into a sleeve of food. The former striker was probably also chewing over the fact that his two-time tweet about Wrexham going top - “good luck shifting them now!!” - would once again become catnip for gloating Notts County fans.
The Magpies predictably and handsomely won their Saturday fixture at lowly Scunthorpe - managing to successfully boot the Reds back down into second place as they insist on keeping this relentless game of leapfrog at the top of the table going.
Spotting media personality Mclean scranning in the distance was a gentle reminder of how far we’ve come in terms of club stature - on previous visits to York we’d have been more likely to see Richard Brodie eating out of a skip - but the backdrop also showed how football club upgrades can come at a price.
In 2021, York City FC upped sticks to Monks Cross Shopping Centre - three miles away from the city - following in the footsteps of so many other clubs who have sought bigger space in new villages where they have department stores for neighbours.
It’s easy to see why retail park football stadia have become so popular post-millennium. These grounds make financial sense and are equipped to offer superior facilities (the York City FC beer was a lovely drop and bagging half-time refreshments didn’t feel like queuing for Glastonbury for once) - but it’s hard to escape the fact these new homes don’t absorb the same sense of character from bordering neighbourhoods in the way central grounds do: With the sight of coloured scarves draped out of bedroom windows of terraced houses replaced by branded posters advertising the promotions of the week.
The new Kop will surely be assembled with this “maximum revenue” line of thought - but we can thank our lucky stars it will be tacked onto a footballing residence that remains amongst the community that birthed it; a stone’s throw from Wrexham town centre.
York’s new digs are situated way beyond their glorious walled city - so far out, in fact, it left a few Reds flummoxed.
With a local York bus timetable thinner than a Chester FC history book (and taxis stuck on parallel streets), dozens of Wrexham fans were left with a long wait for a shuttle to the ground - which only turned up after the game had kicked off.
We were so late, in fact, that for the first 30 minutes, we didn’t see anything. We finally took our seats… and we didn’t really see anything for the next hour, either - with the sun blasting directly into the eyes of the Red end for pretty much the whole match.
Not that there was much to miss. The game - from what we could tell - was a lacklustre affair played in a wavering atmosphere, save for a moment when one Red returned a loose ball with a thundering 50p header that prompted chants of “sign him on”.
The game did briefly flicker into life in the final few minutes as Tom O’Connor defied his made-of-glass reputation to turn full acrobat with an overhead kick that even the petulant Portuguese superstar CR7 might have enjoyed. But the celebrations were cut short within seconds, as York’s substitute capitalised on some sleepy defending to thunder home an equaliser in stoppage time - robbing us of the kind of ugly three points that pundits always reflect on as “the games that Champions find a way to win”.
Overall, it felt like a defeat, and as we trudged home through the treacly traffic back into York, all the Red talk featured familiar babble about the contrast between our insipid away showings and the dominant displays we watch at The Racecourse every other week.
We need to shake this home sickness before it becomes an ailment that teams figure out they can exploit - starting this weekend as Parky’s promotion hopefuls take flight to Southampton Airport FC, who are defying all expectations by pushing for the playoffs.
Elliot Lee beat this bunch all on his own back on opening day - and we’ll be calling on his twinkly toes to do the business again. Eastleigh, like us, aren’t much to shout about on their travels, but they have proven they can turn teams over on their own turf.
The Spitfires have the second-best home record in the league - which is keeping them elevated in ninth place despite being tipped to fight relegation by the bookies pre-season.
We’ve got a bit of new blood to help put some pep back in our step - with Hull City’s Andy Cannon signing on for two-and-a-half years - and we’re back at our fortress as soon as Tuesday for a match against that team with a wonky spire.
We’d rather go into that huge game with the wind at our backs, and a win at Eastleigh will do wonders.
So, until then. Elliott, over to you…