One side-effect of performing well in the FA Cup is that a team’s regular season games get postponed. Between the FA Cup, the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and a cold winter forcing postponement, Wrexham finds themselves entering February with 9 games to be played in a month’s time. To make matters worse, Notts County is at the top of National League 3 points ahead of Wrexham and only 2 more games played. This means that there is a little margin for error and that margin is shrunk even more so when Wrexham draws against Woking FC and puts Notts County 5 points ahead with 2 more games played. This means that Wrexham will need to outperform Notts County by at least a win and two draws for the remainder of the season if they want to finish top of the National League and receive automatic promotion to League Two. Technical jargon outside, there’s 9 games to be played in a month’s time. It will be a grind.

As Wrexham plays February’s games, they experience a number of player injuries. Nonetheless, they emerge from the nine games with a total of seven wins and two draws. They’ve maintained the resolve and focus needed to prevent a slide in the season rankings and have regained some confidence going into the remainder of the season. Most notably, this performance would have been impossible without the support of the Wrexham staff, women’s team, and fans who shoveled snow off of the pitch for hours leading up to Wrexham’s match against Southend United to prevent the match’s cancellation. In Welcome to Wrexham, we see time and time again that the notion that Wrexham’s community comes together to support their team is no illusion. The team and its community have a lot to be proud of as Wrexham overcomes its adversity and finishes the nine games with a 4 point lead over Notts County with 10 games of the season remaining.

As March is underway, goalkeeper Rob Lainton has returned from injury and has resumed play with Wrexham. It’s too good to be true however as Lainton tears his MCL a year to the date of his last injury putting an end to his season. At first, it seems that Mark Howard will resume his role as goalkeeper for Wrexham, but an unlikely face emerges as Wrexham’s new goalkeeper. English football fans will know the name Ben Foster, but for those who don’t, Foster is a retired Premier League goalkeeper. He has played for Manchester United, Birmingham City, and Watford to name a few, and he is to come out of retirement to be Wrexham’s new goalkeeper. He represents the best of the best. His decision to sign with Wrexham might seem unusual at first (and, contrary to what some think, does not pertain to a Hollywood-size contract on the table), though he does have connections to the team having played for Wrexham in 2005.

With Mark Howard up to this point playing well as Wrexham’s goalkeeper this season, one might assume that Foster’s signing with the team would present the team with conflict; however, Howard and Foster share a mutual respect and understanding that playing Foster at goalkeeper will improve Wrexham’s chances of promotion. They play with the same objective in mind and do not let ego get in the way of fulfilling their roles at Wrexham. As Foster’s first game with Wrexham looms closer, a lot of eyes are on him and the team to see if playing him will pay off. Foster emerges from the game allowing no goals, and can’t help but be impressed by Wrexham’s performance as a team. He expresses surprise that Wrexham is a non-League club.

‘The Grind’ and ‘Glove Triangle’ cover a lot of ground in telling the story of Wrexham’s season. With six episodes remaining, we can expect the pace of the show to be slowed down and continue to emphasize the influential individuals in the Wrexham organization. These two episodes even manage to do this, also sharing with viewers the circumstances behind midfielder Anthony Forde’s decision to go on leave and introducing us to team captain Luke Young.