Revenge is a dish best served at Christmas
On that bright, spring May afternoon in 2013, when Brett Ormerod scooped a ball into the London sky with the goal at his mercy, there was a wail of disbelief from Red supporters at Wembley that travelled right across the country and rang around Wrexham like a faulty fire alarm for the best part of a decade.
Reds fans have been forced to watch some truly horrifying things on the pitch in recent seasons: Maheta Molango’s finishing; Silvio Spann trying to play right-back; Bobby Grant triggering a contract extension - the list is endless, really.
But the sight of such a distinguished striker - renowned for finishing prowess - missing from six yards out with the keeper on the floor in the Conference Play-Off Final, ranks among the very worst of all.
It felt like reaching out to receive a million pound lottery ticket, only for the piece of paper to slip from our grasp and drift into a drain - never to be seen again.
If Ormerod had hit the target in that moment, Wrexham would surely have been the ones to make it into League Two. But as it so happened, the ball sailed into the seats, Newport County counted their lucky stars, they scooted up the other end in the dying embers and… well, we don’t need to go into that.
That all-Welsh Wembley final has haunted us for years. Nobody in the LL postcode ever wants to talk about it. Andy Morrell said he still can’t watch the game back to this day. It was as close as we ever came to escaping the National League during our 15-year FL exile - and we’re still not sure how it went so wrong.
So, Saturday 23rd December 2023 presented us with an opportunity. Beating Newport in our new guise as World-Famous Hollywood Stars would go a long way to helping us banish that sickening memory of Wembley 2013.
We came into it feeling confident - having squeaked to a 2-1 win the previous week in a game that saw a red card, a Colchester Father Christmas thrown out of the stadium for being drunk and disorderly, and a humiliating stadium announcement for away fans about their train to London being cancelled, which raised a huge “wheeeeeeey!” from the home faithful.
That wasn’t very Christmassy of us. But it wasn’t unusual behaviour, either. Even fighters on the Western Front paused combat on Christmas Day, but football fans never seem to be able to turn the other cheek - even at the mushiest time of the year.
Stockport fans have spent their holidays carrying around a flag depicting Father Christmas taking a dump down a Wrexham chimney (seriously), whilst Notts County have revelled in giddy delight at their neighbour’s unseasonable sacking of Welshman Steve Cooper.
Wrexham’s Xmas hospitality hasn’t been much warmer - and the tense atmosphere on Saturday was entirely predictable given our strained relationship with Newport County.
The Exiles reside 126 miles away, so trying to call this a “derby match” is overreaching - even if we do hail from the same hallowed land of rolling green hills and bouncing fluffy sheep. There’s some “our bit of Wales is better than yours” going on, sure. But an appetite for vengeance is what made this tie particularly tasty.
It was also the fixture that officially kicked off the festive surplus of football and indulgence - as the temporary new Kop made its official bow.
Yep, Wrexham vs Newport County had the look and feel of a real Christmas Cracker of a fixture.
Sadly, it turned out to be more of a Home Bargains festive decoration than an M&S one. Gusty and gutsy, the whole game was a bit grim to sit through. But on this day, winning was all that really mattered. JJ and Twinkle Toes made sure we did.
Wrexham are in the promotion slots at Christmas, and Newport are languishing in 17th.
It’s not very festive to gloat, but given how Newport lads with black teeth were singing “feed the Wrexham” to the confusion of Christmas shoppers in the town centre ahead of kick-off, perhaps it’s ok on this occasion.
10 years later, we finally got them back.
Merry Christmas, Reds.
Brilliant read….I was at Wembley for that game.I've never felt such pain as when that second goal went against us…it’s a hurt that has lasted to this very day…so the win against Newport was massively cathartic .
The strange thing is that years ago I used to look for their scores as a fellow Welsh team…but after crossing paths with them and the final defeat I have absolutely hated them..Maybe time to leave it behind now.
Thanks for the read …please keep up the great work.