The National League offers up one automatic promotion place for the champions of the league, unlike other leagues which normally offer multiple places. The fifth tier also has a set of play-offs, to get into League Two, so the sides placing second-seventh at the end of the season all have the chance of making that glorious leap into the football league.
Wrexham have the unwanted award of being the longest serving side in the National League, after their drop from League Two in 2008. However, the arrival of League One and Two players during the Summer and January transfer windows has seen the Reds make a surge up the table. Five league wins in a row, including a 4-2 romping of fellow promotion chasers and FA Cup extraordinaires Boreham Wood, has seen Wrexham rise up the table to third place, which is a play-off position.
Chesterfield currently sit in second, having played an extra game to Wrexham. The Spireites will be without their goal-grabbing striker Kabongo Tshimanga for the rest of the campaign though, as the man on 24 goals from 27 games sustained a fractured leg and dislocated ankle mid-February against Weymouth.
Stockport County will prove to be Wrexham’s biggest foe. They currently top the table with 67 points; five more than Wrexham. The Hatters came from behind to beat Wrexham 2-1 at Edgeley Park earlier in the season, but the two sides will meet on the penultimate game of the season, at what is set to be a packed-out day at the Racecourse, the oldest international stadium in the world. Wrexham cannot afford to be complacent and forget the pack chasing them behind. Halifax Town and Boreham Wood both have multiple games in hand on Wrexham and Chesterfield, which if they won would see them leapfrog the two sides into the automatic play-off positions.
Solihull Moors, Notts County, Grimsby Town and Bromley are all strong contenders to finish fourth-seventh, with Dagenham & Redbridge tailing close behind, and so the competition for places is rife at the moment. Due to the enhanced competitive nature of this league, fans have been crying for extra promotion places in line with the leagues above.
Wrexham secured 98 points in the 2011/12 campaign, but failed to find promotion from second place
In order to claim promotion this time around, Wrexham will have to beat the likes of Halifax, Solihull, Stockport and a currently 13 match unbeaten Southend United all at home, whilst playing Boreham Wood and Dagenham & Redbridge away from home at the end of the season. A continuation of the outstanding form shown by the new signings, such as Ollie Palmer, Paul Mullin and Aaron Hayden will be vital in continuing the impressive win streak that Phil Parkinson’s men are under, alongside home-grown talent in Jordan Davies and Max Cleworth.
84 points were enough for Sutton United to be crowned champions last year. How many points will this year’s champions require?