Fearless In Devotion: Top 5 Wrexham AFC Games of 2022
One hundred and eight goals scored in 32 games. Just the 29 wins, two draws and a solitary defeat. 2022 at the Racecourse Ground has been electric.
We’ve been spoilt on home soil. Even that defeat against Grimsby was, whilst agonising, unbelievable entertainment.
FiD’s Tim has whittled down three of the best Cae Ras Carnage, plus two very notable wins on the road this year.
February 22:
Chesterfield 0 Wrexham 2
This will live long in the memory as one of our finest non-league away triumphs. Despite both sides missing their star strikers Kabby Tshimanga and Paul Mullin through injury and suspension respectively, the game was a high-octane affair played out in a pressure cooker atmosphere.
How Wrexham were still in it at the break was beyond me. It was one-way traffic from the Spireites but they simply couldn’t find a way past an inspired Rob Lainton.
Parky probably called them a bunch of “fanny fucking footballers” at the break, but whatever he said had the desired effect. The away end burst into a tidal wave of red as Ollie Palmer headed in 10 minutes into the restart after Max Cleworth headed across to him from substitute Liam McAlinden’s cross.
No sooner had the chaos died down Wrexham’s recent record signing doubled our lead, piroetting on the line and bundling the ball over with the slightest aid of a rogue hand. Ollie PALM-er indeed….
A classic smash-and-grab raid in a classic game of two very different halves.
Parky’s on-pitch fist pump celebrations at the final whistle elicited a roar of belief from the travelling masses — Stockport, we were coming for you as the Reds rose to fourth place.
March 26:
Wrexham 6 Dover 5
One for the ages. A game that will be spoken about in decades to come as one of those truly insane 90-plus minutes that defies belief. A game that will have cemented an army of new Up The Town converts via Welcome To Wrexham.
It looked like another straightforward Saturday afternoon at the Cae Ras as goals from Mullin and James Jones put the hosts in control. But the south coast struck twice in six minutes to go in at the break on level terms.
Then it turned into the Michael Gyasi show as the Ghanaian striker netted a 12-minute hat-trick to stun us all into a disbelieving silence. Many thought the game was done as a few hundred headed for the exits.
However, there were plenty of sqeaking Adidas trainer u-turns along Mold Road when Palmer netted three minutes later for 3–5. Some belief was back in the air.
Palmer reduced the arrears again another 180 seconds later, the Cae Ras bubbled with excitement as the king of comebacks was well and truly ON.
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It took until the 91st minute for Jordan Davies to rescue a point — five all. But Wrexham weren’t done. In the NINETY-EIGHTH minute the Coedy Assasin got his nut on a corner. Cue pandemonium. The delirium even extended to a ball boy who raced from his spot to join the player pile-on within the goal. Arsenal in the FA Cup. Promotion at Northampton. Beating Chester anytime on the telly. Add Dover to that ‘I was there’ list. Incredible stuff.
May 8:
Wrexham 3 Stockport 0
They came. They crowed. They seeked some revenge for their FA Trophy semi-final defeat a month earlier. But Stockport fans left North Wales licking their wounds after watching their side succumb to a heavier beating, losing top spot in the process.
Palmer headers, either side of a Mullin daisy-cutter gave Dave Challinor’s Hatters a chastening afternoon.
And whilst it ultimately counted for little but pride against the eventual league champions, it really did
cut Stockport fans deep. To this day the guys over at the excellent The Scarf Bergara Wore podcast still smart at the nature of the loss, a humiliation at the hands of a so close yet so far title rival. We were the best side that season. Stockport were the most consistent and that’s what ultimately told.
October 1:
Oldham 1 Wrexham 2
You can’t beat a bit of late drama against a local-ish club we hadn’t played in 17 years.
Former Reds flop Mike Fondop gave the Latics false hope with a goal he really had no right scoring, but a Ben Tozer error and a slo-mo Howard dive gave him plenty to crow about as he celebrated in front of a sold-out away end.
Tozer made amends with a stylish leveller as David Unsworth’s side visibly tired midway through the second half.
Just when it looked like the shares would be spoiled Luke Young was Bruce Lee’d in the head inside the box.
Up stepped Mullin to win it at the death.
October 8:
Wrexham 7 Barnet 5
Another bat-shit game which swung more ways than a bi-sexual monkey.
Aaron Hayden set us on the way before a Kabamba strike and a goal for Harry Pritchard saw the Bees stung into action.
But two goals in three minutes from Tom O’Connor and Mullin saw Wrexham back ahead at the end of a chaotic first half.
The visitors levelled before Mullin’s penalty and Young’s pearler looked to have sealed the game at 5–3. It was definitely done when Hayden and Palmer added further goals, but Barnet still wouldn’t go away with two beautifully crafted strikes.
A two-goal cushion shouldn’t have made for a nervy final six minutes as the spectre of ‘another Dover’ loomed, but Parkinson’s free-scoring side held out for another mind-bending victory.
**Pics — top one: All Gone Hollywood (Twitter). The rest graciously used without permission via Google. Apologies…
