We go into the Vertu Trophy semi-final against Peterborough with a superb record in the last four of knock-out competitions.

In fact, we haven’t gone out in this stage of a cup since 2002, when we lost a Welsh Premier Cup semi-final on penalties to Cardiff City. Since then, we’ve played 8 semi-finals and gone through in all of them!

The last time we played a semi-final was 2022, when Paul Mullin’s brilliant injury time goals secured a 2-0 FA Trophy win against Stockport County.

Our last three semis were in the Trophy, and we had a hundred per cent record in the competition: Gainsborough Trinity were beaten 4-3 on aggregate, and two years later Torquay United were beaten home and away as we triumphed 5-1.

The numbers stack up terrifically well for us in semi-finals. We’ve won 56 per cent of matches at the last four stage, losing just 22 per cent. More importantly, we’ve consistently succeeded in semis, going through in 55 ties and being knocked out just 24 times. That’s a remarkable success rate of 70 per cent!

Our biggest semi-final win came unexpectedly in 1951 but should still be a source of satisfaction. We drew in the Welsh Cup at home to Chester but enjoyed a terrific improvement three weeks later when Billy Tunnicliffe (below) scored twice in a 5-1 win at Sealand Road.

That wasn’t the first time we scored 5 in a semi-final. Back in 1883, we beat Rhyl 5-2 in the Welsh Cup, and that was matched in the same competition in 1931 when we beat Swansea at Chester.

Our worst outcome was a 6-0 beating at the hands of Cardiff City in 1959 at Shrewsbury. We were looking for a hat trick of Welsh Cup wins but our second division opponents took advantage of their good fortune when Wrexham’s legendary defender Alan Fox (below) suffered an injury and, as there were no substitutes in those days, he was forced to limp around up front for the rest of the game. Harry Knowles scored a hat trick, with one of the other goals scored by another Wrexham legend, Ron Hewitt.

The last time we were knocked out a semi-final without the tie going to penalties was in the Vertu Trophy, which went by one of its other various names at the time, in 1999. Our hopes of a first final in a non-FAW competition were thwarted by Wigan Athletic. In truth, we didn’t really turn up in the first leg and were fortunate to only lose 2-0 at Springfield Park.

The return match saw Welsh international Simon Haworth score in the second minute to virtually put us out. We bravely threw the kitchen sink at The Latics, with Dave Brammer and Jake Edwards scoring in a frantic match, but the mountain was too high to climb and we lost 3-2 on the night.

We returned to that stage of the competition in 2005 and enjoyed a famous victory over Oldham Athletic. The away leg was an incredible, historic match as by the 62^nd minute we’d raced into a 5-1 lead, with Juan Ugarte scoring a hat trick and Mark Jones and Darren Ferguson also chipping in. Oldham grabbed two late goals back, but were never really able to recover, and Chris Llewellyn scored the only goal of the home leg to take us through to the Millennium Stadium.

We won’t be able to attract the biggest attendance for a semi-final at the SToK Cae Ras, as the figure is just beyond our capacity. In 1927, a week and a half after they became the only side to take the FA Cup to Wales after beating Arsenal, Cardiff City arrived in North Wales and drew a crowd of14,453 despite driving rain.

It was a real occasion, as Wrexham honoured Cardiff’s achievement at Wembley. A civic reception was held for the visitors by Wrexham’s mayor, with the Gresford Colliery band playing, before they made their way to the game by bus via streets lined with spectators, applauding as skipper Fred Keenor raised the FA Cup. They selected 10 of the players who won against Arsenal and beat us 2-1, although we spurned a number of chances. Three days later The Bluebirds beat Rhyl at The Racecourse to become the only side to win both English and Welsh FA Cups in the same season.

Wrexham’s man for the big occasion in semi-finals was Bert Goode, who scored 9 goals in the last 4 of the Welsh Cup, spread across two spells at the club between 1911 and 1925. That makes him our highest scorer in semi-finals by some margin, and in amongst his goals is a hat trick at Llandudno in 1915.