You surely don’t need Rob and Ryan to tell you that the key factor in sport’s allure is unexpected drama. The comeback win, the underdog story, the return from the edge.

Want to experience all that and more in person? Then you need to be watching Wrexham’s women’s team at The Rock on Sunday. It’s the first half of a double-header against Swansea which could deliver all the above and more.

Three weeks ago the season looked all but over. We’d been stuck in 6^th place since the third week of the season, but were given a chance to turn things around, ironically by Swansea. They lost back-to-back games to the top two, Cardiff and Briton Ferry, which suddenly drew into an unexpected scrap for the final spot in the top four before the first phase of the season ends and the league splits.

To take advantage we needed to be relentless in the run-in, while also having a tilt at two knock-out trophies. We could get the momentum going with a win in the semi-final of the Adran Trophy against, you guessed it, Swansea!

What a chance to reach only the second cup final in our history, and deliver a blow to the morale of the team we were chasing in the league. We stepped up to the plate in a classic cup tie, asking questions of the Swans, but ended up losing a game we could easily have won 3-2.

The following week we travelled to Cardiff Met, the bottom team, whose record at the time in all competitions was played 14, drawn 1, lost 13. Perhaps the cruel defeat to Swansea took something out of us, but we failed to put the university team to the sword. On top throughout, we conceded an own goal and despite piling it on in the second half, we ended up drawing 1-1.

It looked like the end of our hopes of a top four place, not least because simultaneously Swansea put Aberystwyth ruthlessly to the sword. With 3 league games left, we couldn’t afford to drop any more points, and Swansea would still finish above us with one win even if we enjoyed a perfect run-in.

It didn’t look great, especially because the theme of the season has been one of missed opportunities. Our performances have been better than our results, but we haven’t been fully rewarded for our efforts. Ruthlessness hasn’t been our strong suit.

And then, suddenly, it was.

Aberystwyth came to Cefn Mawr and were dispatched in style. Ava Suckley scored a hat trick and we piled up seven goals. No lack of ruthlessness there then! Meanwhile, Swansea were losing to Cardiff. The door of opportunity creaked ajar.

In midweek we had a tough test: a derby against a TNS side which was leading the table at Christmas and has been terrifically impressive all season. Swansea kicked off 15 minutes earlier, so we entered the closing stages of the game knowing they’d drawn 0-0. We could take it to the last game of the season if we found a winner, but we were locked in a goalless match too. Believe it or not, we’d never played a 0-0 draw since being incorporated into Wrexham AFC officially in 2018. Would we now finally draw a blank, when our season was on the line?

No, because we have our own version of Roy of the Rovers. With 3 minutes left, Suckley had a close range chance but couldn’t take it. Rosie Hughes did brilliantly to keep the ball alive, and fed Lili Jones, Wrexham through-and-through, who cut in from the left flank and lashed a magnificent curling shot over the keeper and inside the far post from 25 yards.

If you haven’t seen it, drop everything and find it. You won’t be disappointed.

We held on comfortably, and the scenes of celebration were wonderful. It wouldn’t have been possible if Lizzie Craven hadn’t made a breath-taking save midway through the second half, and she rightly got her share of the praise.

And Jones? She had a lecture in medieval Welsh in Bangor at 9 in the morning, so her celebrations couldn’t stretch too far into the night!

And so, we come to this weekend. This isn’t the winner-takes-all league encounter; that comes the following Sunday. Instead, it’s the quarter final of the Welsh Cup, a chance to challenge for our first trophy. Last season we got to the final and were superb, but Cardiff still managed to come out un top, numerically if not in terms of the performance.

That’s the subtext to this remarkable pair of fixtures. We’ve improved constantly against Cardiff and Swansea, but we still haven’t beaten either of them. The more recent the game, the more galling the outcome. We concede injury time goals, come close to pulling off epic comebacks in grandstand finishes, but the results just won’t come. We’ve lost our last 4 games against Swansea 3-2. Stop for a moment and soak that in.

However, one of the things which make this Wrexham side so likeable is that they keep picking themselves up and coming back for more. There could easily be a sense of fatalism about them; a resignation before facing Cardiff and Swansea that the outcome is inevitable. But there isn’t.

Instead, each setback is absorbed and turned into fuel. It feeds a terrific fire at the heart of the side: a knowledge that those results will come if they keep at it, if they keep doing things the right way.

The whole season has felt like that: a journey where results have been frustrating, but they’ve stuck away at the job. Steve Dale’s guidance is crucial in all this. He knows the plans he wants his team to execute, and he keeps working on those principles, knowing they will ultimately pay off.

Walloping Aberystwyth and then beating TNS in the space of 4 days suggests that sticking to their guns has served his team well.

We got into the first half of this epic showdown in fine form. The atmosphere at The Rock has played its part – the volume has been cranked up in our last 3 home games. I highly recommend you join the crowd this Sunday and experience for yourself what is getting me so excited.