After twice crossing the border last week, I thought I will make it a hat trick and visit Wrexham as they faced Ayr United in the Scottish Challenge Cup. I wasn’t originally planning on visiting the North Wales based side, but it came up for Opta and I took the job on shortly after visiting Cardiff.

I was looking forward to my trip to the Racecourse Ground as I had never been before and it looks like a lovely ground from pictures and videos etc. The match itself was an interesting one.

Wrexham made 10 changes and scored first through Jake Bickerstaff in the second half. Sam Roscoe of Ayr equalised late on so the match went to penalties. A different Jake, this time Lawlor, scored the winning penalty for Wrexham who go through to the fourth round. So how was the experience?

Atmosphere:

Going in to the game, I wasn’t sure how serious the Wrexham faithful were going to treat this game. I knew the Scots would be eager to get one on the English/Welsh and boy did they show it.

The 421 Ayr fans that made the journey were brilliant throughout. Their vast amount of noise was helped by a loud drum that they smuggled in. The Wrexham fans on the other hand, barely batted an eyelid all game.

It was disappointing but understandable to hear the lack of noise, but I bet the stadium gets a good atmosphere for games they care a bit more about.

I will rate the atmosphere 3/5

Cost:

As I was working on the day I didn’t have to pay for a ticket but if I wanted to it would’ve been £10 which is what I what I would’ve expected. The train to and from the stadium was £50 which sounds a lot but I am coming from Bristol so that is a 7 hour round trip. Luckily it was covered by Opta so I didn’t have to fork it out.

For the cost I will rate Wrexham 3/5

Entertainment:

By the introduction you may not have thought it was the best of game, given it was 1-1, but that’s only half the story. The game was end to end for the majority of it, and even though there may not been a chance at the end of it, it was still exciting.

A penalty shootout is always exciting, no matter who is playing and I saw 12 penalties taken, with just one missed. The fans would’ve certainly got there moneys worth and enjoyed an entertaining encounter.

For entertainment I will rate it 3.5/5

Facilities:

As I said, I was looking forward to seeing the Racecourse Ground and I wasn’t let down. The ground is known as the official oldest international ground in the world, which is quite a feat. Unfortunately, the huge terrace behind one end is permanently shut barring any renovations but I won’t let that cloud my judgement.

Facilites I will rate 3/5.

Food:

Breaking News: I didn’t actually consume any food or drink inside the ground. I actually grabbed a meal deal from a nearby Sainsburys. There were some complimentary hot beverages in the media room and I did take a look at the food that Wrexham provide and it did look nice and reasonably priced. I can’t offer a stronger opinion than that so will have to rate the the food based solely on looks

For food I will rate Wrexham 3/5

Man of the Match:

There were a few decent looking players out there for both sides that could definitely do a job at a higher level but I am going to pick Dawid Szczepaniak as my man of the match. The young keeper was making his senior debut and made some good saves during the 90. He ultimately won the game for them with the penalty save and impressed on his first outing.

So what does this mean?

Wrexham score 15.5 which ties them with a couple of other clubs and sits them in mid table. It also puts them in between the two Welsh clubs, being ahead of Newport but well below Cardiff. Overall I enjoyed my time in Wales for the three matches but we will almost certainly be going closer to home for our next games.