The journey back to the Football League has been long and torturous for Wrexham, not simply decorated by Hollywood stardust and riches all the way, but the promised land is within their grasp after 15 years away. On an unforgettable afternoon against Notts County, their closest rivals for automatic promotion from the National League and another historic club rebuilding for better days, Wrexham reclaimed top spot with a script Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney may have considered too outlandish.
Less than a month after coming out of retirement, the 40‑year‑old goalkeeper Ben Foster saved a 96th‑minute penalty to deliver a victory that leaves Phil Parkinson’s team three points clear with four games to play. Wrexham trailed at the interval but stirred along with an impassioned crowd to lead 3-2 with 11 minutes left.
Then, in the final act, the defender Eoghan O’Connell was penalised for handling a Macaulay Langstaff header at point-blank range inside the Wrexham area. The Notts County substitute Cedwyn Scott drilled the spot-kick towards Foster’s bottom right-hand corner. The veteran saved superbly, the wonderful Racecourse Ground erupted and Wrexham’s celebrity owners had their Hollywood ending. Well, almost.
Parkinson was at pains to stress that the one automatic promotion spot is not yet guaranteed. More certain, as Foster told the owners in the dressing room afterwards, is that Reynolds and McElhenney may never again witness a game as entertaining or exhausting as this.
“Rob kissed me fully on the lips and Ryan called me a double handsome bastard – I’ll take that from him,” the former Watford and West Brom goalkeeper said.
“They’re over the moon, and I said you’d better end the documentary now because you’ll never get a better game of football than that, no matter how many you go to. They’re probably worn out along with everyone else.
“That penalty save, and what it meant to the fans, is as good a feeling as you’re going to get in football. I’ve played over 500 games in my career and probably had two of those moments that you could bottle. I’ve got goosebumps thinking about it again now. I’ve never celebrated a save before, it’s such a douchebag thing to do, but I couldn’t help myself. I know how much that means for Wrexham.”
Inspired by the striker Paul Mullin, who scored a vital equaliser before setting up goals for Jacob Mendy and Elliot Lee, Wrexham recorded a 20th win in 21 home league games this season – the other was drawn – as they and Notts County produced a contest that fulfilled the pre-match hype as the biggest game in the history of non-league football.
The two clubs started the day on 100 points apiece, 25 points clear of third-placed Woking, and with Wrexham’s owners visiting the civic hall to receive the freedom of the borough award.
The first half was, in truth, a drab affair. Maybe it was the occasion, the huge stakes or the almost identical form of the teams that contained the fun for 48 minutes. Wrexham sought to break the visitors’ high defensive line with long balls over the top towards Mullin and Ollie Palmer. The ploy flourished in the second half but rarely succeeded before the break. Notts County spent long spells encamped in the Wrexham half while struggling to turn possession into genuine threats on Foster’s goal. The physical scrap, with both teams fond of wrestling opponents to the ground and Rúben Rodrigues losing a tooth in one collision, provided much of the first-half entertainment.
The contest ignited in the closing seconds of the first half when the former Crystal Palace and Tottenham midfielder John Bostock swept a superb 25-yard free-kick into the top corner. Wrexham, having blown a lead in defeat at Halifax on Friday, were in danger of losing the initiative in the title race too. But they reacted in style.
The hosts started to exploit space down their right flank. Mullins swept in the equaliser from a James Jones cross. It was his 44th goal in all competitions this season. The Notts defender Geraldo Bajrami claimed he had been fouled by the goalscorer but his appeals were ignored. Mendy sent an emphatic finish past Sam Slocombe from another low cross from the right, this time from Mullin, before the unmarked Kyle Cameron headed Notts County level from a corner. Lee restored Wrexham’s advantage when Bajrami failed to deal with an O’Connell cross and Mullin teed up the midfielder for a composed finish.
A dramatic victory, along with a return ticket to the Football League, was in sight when Notts County were awarded their last-gasp penalty. “Cometh the hour, cometh the man,” as Parkinson described Foster’s intervention. So close now.
