‘Welcome to Wrexham’: Red Dragons #1 in National League – Promotion Closer than Ever
Welcome to Wrexham fans that aren’t keeping up with the Welsh football team in real-time are really missing stellar matches. With Season 1 of the FX show delivering huge letdowns for the team, Season 2 should look better since they’re still filming.
And the new season launches in a few months, after the close of the 2022/2023 season. Be sure to check out our Wrexham podcast looking back at S1, and dropping spoilers for what you’ll see when Season 2 debuts in August 2023.
Red Dragons Knock Notts County off Top Spot – Welcome to Wrexham Update
It’s been second-place for most of the UK football season for the Wrexham Red Dragons. But they’ve been close behind Notts County for weeks now. And the match against Chesterfield on February 28th changed everything and tipped the national league table.
This season has been must-watch TV. And if you pay £80 (about $100 US) for an international streaming pass, you can watch the matches live on match day. And then you can see replays 2-5 days later (it can vary widely).
In our house, this was the most popular Christmas gift and we’ve not missed a match. The Welcome to Wrexham fan movement is growing and their US and international fan base is booming.
And it’s the perfect time to hop on the Red Dragon wave. Before today’s match, it was Wrexham in the #2 spot with 81 points and Notts County at #1 with 83 points.
FULL TIME | Wrexham 2-1 Chesterfield
🔴 Rydym ni ar frig y gynghrair!
⚪ We are top of the league!
🔴⚪ #WxmAFC pic.twitter.com/LLZXvyLMjW
— Wrexham AFC (@Wrexham_AFC) February 28, 2023
if you don’t know how UK football scoring works, matches won and tied earn points. A win gets you three points and a tie gets each team one point. So, going into today’s match, it was clear that a victory would tip them into the top spot. And then it happened!
Chesterfield Goes Down 2-1 at the Racecourse
The Red Dragons welcomed Chesterfield to the home pitch at the Racecourse. Welcome to Wrexham viewers saw plenty of the pitch and grounds as Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took over the Welsh team.
Near the opening five-minute mark of the match, Elliot Lee (forward #38) scored an aggressive first goal. If you’ve not watched recent matches, Lee has been relentless in his harassment of opponents. His footwork is stellar and he never stops.
Also playing extra hard this match was Jacob Mendy (defender #19). He was everywhere and passing the ball, and foot-working it past Chesterfield constantly. Then, just before the first half ended, during stoppage, Sam Dalby (forward #18) scored another.
The lads went back into the locker room 2-0 over Chesterfield at halftime. You can only imagine how this moment will play out on a future Welcome to Wrexham episode.
Coming back from the half, there was a lot of attacking and defending with control of the ball bouncing back and forth between Wrexham and their opponent. There were also a few yellow cards thrown at Chesterfield for antics (and one argument).
Heading into stoppage at the end of the second half, Chesterfield scored their one goal. Rob Lainton didn’t move. It’s not clear if it was just moving too fast but it sailed past him. However, they had just three minutes left for Chesterfield to find the equalizer.
But they didn’t. At full-time, it was 2-1 with the Wrexham fans chuffed at overtaking the top of the table.
Welcome to Wrexham Promotion Hopes at Fever Pitch
Naturally, the big concern is getting promoted. And the national league is the hardest of the UK football tiers to escape once you’re relegated there. Take a look at the visual aid below we made to emphasize why promotion’s such a challenge for the Welcome to Wrexham team.
You can see in the pyramid of EFL (English Football League) above that in the leagues above them, three to four teams are promoted. But in the National League, where Wrexham’s been stuck for 14 seasons, only two teams can be promoted.
The top team in the league gets promoted automatically. And then teams #2-7 play quarter-final, then four play semi-finals, and two in the final. The winner earns that second promotion slot.
So, the bottom line is this is, as Humphrey Ker put it on the FX show: “football purgatory” because it’s the tier hardest to get out of… Now, the Red Dragons are one point ahead of Notts County.
And if you note in the league table above, Wrexham played one less match so far. So, catching up on matches played, a tie would push Wrexham up over Notts County by 2 points and a win by 4 points. Check out Welcome to Wrexham on Hulu on demand now.
For fans eager to see Wrexham matches live rather than wait for the edited versions in Season 2, check out a streaming pass at National League TV.
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