Wrexham made their return to the second-tier of the English football pyramid on Saturday for the first time in 43 years.
The Hollywood darlings scored first, too. Josh Windass converted a penalty in the 22nd minute, and it was a lead for Wrexham against the recently relegated Southampton.
For almost the entire afternoon on the south coast, Wrexham looked like it’d come away with the full three points.
Every single point matters, of course, as Wrexham try to earn promotion for a fourth consecutive seasons.
They’ve gone from the National League to League Two to League One and now into the Championship in successive campaigns.
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There’s a long season still to go, a real chance for Wrexham to still pursue promotion to the Premier League.
But on the opening Saturday of the season, heartbreak was in order.
Ryan Manning equalized in the 90th minute for the Saints. And then six minutes into stoppage time, Jack Stephens shattered Wrexham’s hearts entirely with a game-winning goal for Southampton.
Saints 2, Wrexham 1, and a stunned fanbase around the world that has fallen in love with the famed team owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham have made the appropriate investments in their squad for this first season back in the second division. They’re in the upper portions of the Championship as far as revenue and money spent on their roster.
But football is a funny game, and no matter how hard you work and how much you want it, sometimes the other team scores two goals in the dying embers of the match to rip everyone’s hearts out.
There are 45 more league matches to go for Wrexham this season, plenty of time to still seek promotion.
But this one will sting for a while.
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