Wrexham can look back at their most successful season since 2003 when they achieved promotion to the current Football League One. The campaign that just ended for them did not see promotion but saw some of the best football played at Racecource in a long time and one of the most well-organised and devoted teams that the fans have ever seen. Dean Saunders started the Wrexham revival last season when he guided the team to the play-offs and his men set the pace at the start of the season, winning seven out of their first seven games and playing with confidence and quality that immediately hinted that the fans will be in for a treat in the months to come. However, the bombshell was dropped at the end of September when Saunders accepted the challenge of trying to save Doncaster from relegation in the Championship and left the Dragons after nearly four years in charge. The directors made the brave choice of putting experienced striker Andy Morrell in charge as player-manager and he choose to keep it as similar as it was under Saunders and just keep the momentum going. His team just kept on winning, keeping it very tight at the back and played nice fluid attacking football on the break. October saw six wins on the trot, each one accompanied with a clean sheet, and the Dragons were looking good at the top spot. Morrell won the job for the rest of the season and tried to keep everyone grounded and just maintain the focus to the next game only. Converted defender Nathaniel Knigh-Percival who was a wing-back before, started the season as an emergency centre-half, and formed a superb partnership with Mark Creighton that was the backbone of easily the best defence in the league. Jay Harris and Jamie Tolley were patrolling the midfield while Danny Wright was superb up front with his physical presence and awareness. The winter months did not bring a stutter for the Dragons who kept grinding out results without being at their best. At the same time, Wrexham were having a good FA Cup run too and were incredibly unlucky not to book a fourth-round tie against Newcastle having lost on penalties to Championship high-flyers Brighton in an epic tie. That dramatic clash took its toll on the squad and the first cracks started to appear in a 1:0 loss to Forest Green in late January that was first in the league since September. Wrexham were bouncing back quickly and still just about keeping the top spot under pressure from Fleetwood but suffered another disappointing loss at Stockport in February. Still, important wins at Kidderminster and at home to Luton kept the Dragons very much in control of their fate in terms of automatic promotion going to March. Yet, the wheels well and truly fell off in the space of couple of weeks when Alfreton and Forest Green won at Racecourse while the team only claimed a draw away at Cambridge. That made the game at Fleetwood all but academical in terms of the battle for the title. Wrexham still finished the regular season well and were full of hope of getting the better of Luton in the play-offs having lost to them at this stage last season. However, a poor performance in the first leg resulted in a costly 2:0 loss and a stirring comeback at home was enough only for a 2:1 win which meant a fifth consecutive season in the non-league next season. Yet, the belief and confidence is back in the squad and they should be challenging for promotion next season if the core of the squad is kept while Morrell has already shown the qualities to be a a very good manager in the future.
