AN extraordinary seven days for Wrexham culminated in a peaceful and good-natured post-match pitch invasion.
Tribal loyalties were swapped for solidarity as the rival factions united to express their outrage that the only Football League club in North Wales is threatened with closure.
They demonstrated, too, that it's the fans who are the lifeblood of the game. Though some might not always choose to exercise their right to come through the turnstiles every week, the affinity they have with their home team is as much a source of identity and pride as it is being an integral part not merely of the local community, but of the wide football world.
It was perhaps fitting that the visitors on Saturday should be Hull, a club who have come through the sort of financial crisis which currently haunts their Racecourse rivals.
And their travelling fans not only helped to swell the attendance to a respectable 5,601 - the second biggest of the season so far - they also put their hands in their pockets to help fill the buckets being hawked around the ground by the Wrexham Supporters Trust. The effort raised around £2,500 for the fighting fund.
The match turned out to be a superb advertisement for League One football in a game dominated in the first half by the fired-up Dragons.
Wrexham could not have had a much better start after surviving a first-minute raid which produced a chance for Stuart Green, who steered a header over.
Only 13 minutes were on the clock when goalkeeper Matt Baker launched a long-free kick downfield and Chris Armstrong's challenge did enough to upset defender Damien Delaney. The ball fell to Chris Llewellyn, who turned sharply inside his marker to crash a fierce shot into the roof of the net.
Armstrong, who had earlier missed a chance as inviting as Green's, then spun away to set up another opening, his low cross blocked at the expense of a corner before a lengthy spell of treatment for defender Andy Dawson robbed Wrexham of their momentum.
Armstrong, back in action for the first time in a month, looked sharp and lively, while the return of Danny Williams alongside the equally combative Matt Crowell gave the home side an edge in midfield.
But it was the inventive Darren Ferguson who doubled the lead in the 29th minute after he picked up the ball inside the centre circle. He was allowed to run forward unchallenged and, from 25 yards, curled his shot beyond goalkeeper Boaz Myhill.
As the Dragons pressed forward, Myhill denied Armstrong and Ferguson saw his first-time effort deflected off target before the visitors gave a hint of what was to come through Delroy Facey.
Only a last-ditch intervention from Dennis Lawrence denied the big striker but when a corner was delivered by Stuart Elliott nine minutes before the break, Facey saw his effort cleared off the line by Ferguson.
Unfortunately for Wrexham, defender Leon Cort was first to react and, after his shot struck the underside of the bar and bounced down, referee Andy Woolmer and his linesman both agreed it had crossed the line.
Within 10 minutes of the restart, Facey was rewarded for his energetic performance, expertly side-footing past Baker to convert a cross from substitute Roland Edge, who had been on the field for just two minutes.
Both sides had chances to break the deadlock but the frenetic pace of the game took its toll in the later stages. WREXHAM: Baker, Pejic, Roberts, Lawrence, Spender, Williams (Jones 88), Ferguson, Crowell, Holt, Llewellyn, Armstrong. Subs: Smith, Mackin, Sam, Evans.
Att: 5,601
