Tuesday night was the perfect encapsulation of a club which is ready to spread its wings.
So many elements came together to reflect the remarkable strides the club has made to get to this point. On Saturday we have an opportunity to make the greatest leap of all.
What summed up the winning culture at the club best?
Perhaps the most obvious answer is to consider one simple number. One hundred and seven.
That’s how many points we have amassed so far, and no other club has matched in the history of the top five tiers of the pyramid.
Just let that sink in for a moment: it doesn’t matter how you slice and dice the numbers, and I’ve converted all the early seasons so a win is worth 3 points. The truth is that we have been privileged to witness the greatest accumulation of league results in the history of the domestic game.
We’ve not been too shabby in the FA Cup either!
In some ways the even more remarkable thing to consider is that, despite being ground-breakingly superb, we still haven’t won the title yet! Notts County ought to be saluted for their magnificent campaign, and by the end of the season both of us will stand together not only as the top 2 in the National League, but also as the 2 greatest points totals of all time.
Putting those remarkable stats to one side, the parade of the victorious women’s team around the pitch at half time was a reminder of the club’s transformation.
Their play-off win over an excellent Briton Ferry side last Sunday meant so much to the club, and also to women’s football in North Wales, but I’ll save that diatribe for the Summer!
Until fairly recently, such an achievement might have been denied the respect it deserves, but thankfully football is slowly dragging itself into the 21st Century in the way it acknowledges that there’s more than the men’s game to enjoy.
The women’s side has developed cult heroes to stand alongside the men: Rosie Hughes’ extravagant forward play, Del Morgan’s magnificent goalkeeping and TJ Dickens’ mastery of midfield – not to mention that she scored one of the great Racecourse goals against Connah’s Quay – are just three players worth acclamation.
The magnificent performance of a very young Under-19s side, in losing out to Cardiff City in the Welsh Cup Final, showed the promising depth of quality Steve Dale is already able to call upon.
Perhaps the clearest sign of the club’s winning culture was the phenomenal crowd on Tuesday. I’m not just referring to the magnitude of the attendance, although we shouldn’t gloss over yet another five-figure crowd. If we had the capacity, we’d have had 23 such crowds in the league this season.
No, it was the unswerving faith of the fans which struck me. There’s was a genuinely edgy feeling before the match: I don’t think I’ve ever been asked so often if I thought we’d win a game! But that doubt was most certainly not transmitted once we got into the stadium.
Even when doomed Yeovil put up an unexpected fight, the crowd were relentless in their support. When the side went through a rough patch, the volume merely increased. Everyone stood up to be counted on Tuesday, on and off the pitch.
Now we all need to do it one more time.
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