I suppose it’s a bit early to declare the player of the season, so I’ll hold off for now. I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise for you, anyway!

However, I reckon I’ve already seen the individual performance of the season from a Wrexham player. I need to emphasise, if you think I’m being premature, that it happened last Sunday when Wrexham’s Adran Premier side opened their season at Briton Ferry.

Yes, that’s right, I’m calling it after one match!

There were lots of contenders for player of the match in what was a sensational way to mark the first match in charge for Jenny Sugarman.

The players she’s brought in over the Summer have looked very exciting on paper, and they lived up to expectations against last season’s runners-up.

A thumping 5-2 win was punctuated with eye-catching performances which added up to the overwhelming sense that this season could be a great deal of fun!

Looking at the debutantes first, Maryam Mahmood was sensational. How sensational? Well, have a look at what she did in added time at the end of the first half. Not many players mark their arrival at a club by running back into midfield to retrieve a pass, turning, beating two opponents with a direct run and then lashing the ball into the roof of the net from twenty five yards!

She took a real battering from a Briton Ferry side that are renowned for taking no prisoners, which was inevitable considering the perfect storm of circumstances: she was a ball-playing creator in a game overseen by a referee who was reluctant to punish physical play.

Yet she never shirked her duty to create. It would have been easy to hide, and reduce the punishment, but there’s more than one type of bravery. You don’t have to get a kick in the head while clearing the ball to show you have heart; Mahmood showed it by constantly coming back for more, showing for the ball, dribbling, getting kicked, and dusting herself off to go again.

Receive. Dribble. Get treatment. Repeat.

It was an epic shift, and she was a worthy player of the match.

But this wasn’t the performance of the season I referred to earlier.

Neither was it the dazzling first turn by Katie Barker, who scored, hit the post and constantly terrified the Briton Ferry defence with her ability to drop deep and sprint at (and past) them. Neither was it new skipper Jodie Bartle, whose composure, quality and fire was what we expected from a jewel we’ve snatched from Celtic, via Newcastle.

Nat Clark was superb in the centre of midfield, central to the confidence on the ball we showed in crowded central areas. Carra Jones’ pace on the flanks and superb delivery, both in open play and from set pieces, was complemented by her usual goal threat as she drew a couple of good saves from Ferry’s keeper. Phoebe Davies was rock solid, Ava Suckley a constant threat, Josie Smith looked very impressive filling in on the wrong side of the defence.

It wasn’t any of them either.

Hannah Snape and Rosie Hughes were spectacular off the bench, Lizzie Craven’s handling in the 10-minute period during the second half when Ferry rediscovered their mojo was reassuring. Lili Jones was, well Lili Jones.

But the kudos I’m reserving for a performance which was truly above and beyond is going to a player who had a nightmarish start to the match. That’s why I wouldn’t say she was player of the match, but the way she responded to adversity made what she did for our football club stand out.

Erin Lovett is a warrior, and a great asset for Wrexham AFC, not just as a player but as a person. She won the award for community player last season, and embodies what’s good about the club.

She was forced into a horrible situation after Keren Allen was kicked out of the game by a horrible late tackle. It came just 68 seconds into the season, and there was, of course, not even a booking.

Lovett came on cold, was given the ball instantly from the free kick to get a first touch, and slightly overhit her return pass. No big deal: we kept the ball, but I suspect a seed was planted in her mind.

Last season our first away match of the campaign was also at Briton Ferry in identical conditions: heavy rain on a sodden pitch.

We got off to a nightmare of a start that time, as the uneven pitch, which slopes massively from one side to the other and plays slowly in wet conditions, troubled us.

By the time we’d worked out how to pass out from the back, we were 2-0 down.

Last Sunday we were defending at the same end, and Lovett’s overhit pass may have played on her mind when, 28 seconds into her season, she received the ball on the edge of the box.

This time she took a bit of pace off her back pass, probably remembering how her previous pass travelled, and angled the ball so it wouldn’t go into the net if it was overhit.

Unfortunately, Ferry’s striker, Jade Crofts, latched onto it and, with Craven stranded, walked it into the empty net.

It was a horrible moment, and straight from the restart came another.

Crofts is quick, and when Ferry lifted a long ball towards the corner flag she was in a race with Lovett, playing on the right of the back three, who wouldn’t count pace as one of her strengths.

She actually did really well in the sprint, and just about beat Crofts to the ball, but having to go at full speed for thirty yards meant she wasn’t fully balanced when she got there.

Crofts pushed her in the back, Wrexham screamed for a foul, but the ref said no. With Craven in position for a back pass, Crofts tried an audacious shot over the keeper which grazed the bar.

Five minutes into her season and Lovett had cost us a goal and could have gifted Ferry another.

So why am I drawing attention to her performance? Because what happened next was utterly magnificent.

She benefitted from some smart decision-making, as she was immediately shuffled into the middle of the back three, where Crofts had less scope to use her pace to run around the sides at Lovett’s expense.

However, the real achievement was all hers.

She could have wilted. Could have seen it as a terrible day which was only going to get worse, and folded under the pressure. As I said before, Briton Ferry are a physical, direct side with a fast, strong centre forward who would prey ruthlessly on any weakness.

Frankly, if Lovett had cracked, we’d have lost this match, despite the quality of our performance and our clear superiority. We wouldn’t have been able to stop haemorrhaging chances at the other end.

Instead, Lovett was resolute. In the central position she was able to play to her strengths: tackling, heading, winning individual duels and, crucially, an indomitable spirit.

Brilliantly, she didn’t just settle down: she bullied the impressive Crofts!

The moment she crunched into a jarring, but clean, tackle on Crofts when the striker tried her first run at her through the centre, you could hear the noise from her teammates. They knew she was fine, and they wouldn’t have to play with an eye kept over their shoulders in case another catastrophe struck.

There was terrific noise from another source too. The wonderful band of supporters that follow the team to every corner of Wales – the Wrexham Ultras – knew how important it was to show her support and they did. They kick-starting what was easily the best noise I’ve ever heard at an Adran Premier match by greeting every excellent intervention with a full-throated roar of approval. They must have been hoarse by the end, because she gave them a lot to cheer.

After an hour we were 3-2 up, but to their credit, Ferry rallied and enjoyed a threatening spell. A lucky ricochet fell to Crofts and suddenly Lovett was faced with a return of her nightmare scenario: she was isolated and her nemesis was running at her, with the way the ball fell meaning she had a slight head start and was racing clear on goal.

This time, Lovett stepped in with a perfect saving tackle. Lizzie Craven didn’t even have to get her hands dirty!

Moments later our fourth goal, which put an end to Ferry’s resistance, was started when Lovett, surrounded by opponents on the edge of her penalty area, coolly threaded a perfectly-weighted pass to Snape, who spotted Hughes’ excellent in-to-out run and fed her perfectly. Seconds later, Hughes was celebrating her first goal of the season.

So, I wouldn’t put her forward as player of the match, because she did make a couple of fundamental errors. But life is about making mistakes, and what matters is how you respond to them. Erin Lovett didn’t just show great spirit and quality. She didn’t just give the team a platform from which a glorious performance could be launched. She gave us a life lesson, and that’s why nobody will match what I saw, what I felt, on Sunday.