Wrexham - 2020/2021
League
The media predicted a 16th place finish but as is often the case, they were wrong as we topped the table at the turn of the year and never once relinquished our position. We were were seven points clear of 2nd place at one stage yet a combination of injuries and a few daft defeats saw us go into the final day of the season still needing a draw to guarantee the title.
We never got it as we succumbed to a 4-2 defeat at home to
Torquay, our 3rd defeat in our final five matches but thankfully (and perhaps rather deservedly) Hartlepool were held to a 1-1 draw so we claimed the title regardless.
Hartlepool themselves only got back in it by being one of those three defeats as they took all three points a few weeks earlier in a 5-4 loss.
We had a few high scoring games during the season but none more so than the 8-5 win against
Bromley. Leading 5-3 at half time, we found ourselves level with 7" minutes to play...a late flurry handing us the win.
Domestic Cups
FA Cup
Always a fan of some cup magic, we knocked
Bradford PA out in the qualifying rounds with a 1-0 win in extra time to set up a first round encounter with
Aldershot Town. Another 1-0 win followed leading us to a second round tie against
Scunthorpe. Although we took a 2-0 lead we were again level as we heading into extra time but up stepped
Adi Yussuf our Tanzanian winger to steal the win and set up a potential money spinning 3rd round appearance.
No
Premier League outfit but a former one at least as we drew
League One side
Sunderland and the magic of the
FA Cup was about to spark into life. 0-0 at half time in a closely fought game at
The Racecourse Ground, we were holding our own before The Mackem's took the lead through
C.Maguire from the penalty spot. Not to be downhearted we responded almost immediately as our top scorer
Jordan Ponticelli levelled the score line. 46 goals in 54 appearances for the forward, 38 of which arrived in the league as he showed his quality throughout the season and throughout this match itself as he grabbed a second not long after putting us 2-1 up.
Sunderland hit back through
L. O'Nien. The scoring wasn't done though as
Sanderson put in his own net to give us a 3-2 lead with just five minutes to go....five very long minutes...followed by another five minutes stoppage time and it was in the final seconds of that, that
Sunderland once again levelled the scores.
Maguire's shot coming off the post hitting our goalkeepers
Lainton's back and ensuring extra time would be needed. 3-3.
Power struck first for
Sunderland 3-4,
Ponticelli grabbed his third, 4-4 and then
Thomas scored a worldy with four minutes to spare! 5-4! Giant killing?! Not quite as one minute to go saw
Power again level for
Sunderland to take it to a penalty shoot out.
But we won that, 4-2.
This set up a fourth round tie against
Crystal Palace, again at
The Racecourse Ground but that was where our involvement ended as we were dispatched 2-0 in relatively easy fashion.
FA Trophy
We dumped
Stalybridge Celtic out with a whopping 8-0 win to set up a fourth round tie against
Barnet, extra time was needed but a 4-3 win eventually proved enough.
Bromley came up in the 5th round and again we made hard work for ourselves but proved victorious by 3 goals to 2 thus setting up a quarter final encounter with
Yeovil Town. I expected a little more from them but our 3-1 success was a doddle and could have been a lot more. Silverware en route? Not quite.
Stockport County knocked us out of the semi finals 2-1 thus rendering the entire experience pointless.
Next Season
We're going to have to delve into market for the first time but I want to do so by bringing in youngsters as YDWAWK isn't really up my street on this particular save and I want top flight football sooner rather than later so I anticipate an overhaul of the squad, bringing in quality where we were lacking and generally tidying up the club as a whole as I didn't really pay much attention to anything other than the next match during this first season. Not much point going too deep with these updates until we're a little more settled, really.
We had our youth intake which was as you'd expect at this level but I signed them all to contracts regardless. We made £1.6M profit throughout the season so we have a little bit of leeway moving into
League Two however it's me and I'm rather prodigal when it comes to virtual funds so if I have to spend in order to succeed then so be it.
Side note. I quite like the end of season stuff on this. I just don't like the fact you get it all before the playoffs have even finished.