We came with expectation and left with our tail between our legs. This one stung. Wrexham will likely get 6th place and will almost certainly finish as the top Welsh club.

Over 1,300 Jacks travelled North for the game, primarily to support their team but also to sample the phenomenon that has become Wrexham. And it really is a phenomenon. Wrexham has become a global name. Achieved unprecedented success. And put more than a few noses out of joint.

"We do get quite a few visiting fans", my lovely Airbnb hosts tell me. The local couple offer a room just outside the centre. They are not big football fans but we get chatting about the club, along with life in general. "We were a forgotten part of Wales - all attention and money goes to the south". I tell them we say the same in Swansea - investment and publicity goes to the capital. If Welsh nationalists think Wales is neglected in the UK, would North Walians think the North is neglected in an independent Wales? Would they then secede? More on nationalism later.

I arrived in the town centre in late afternoon. The pubs were already filling. Every pub bouncer asked if I was a Swans fan, but I had wisely kept my Swans scarf at home and jumper hidden beneath my jacket. The Racecourse is a 20 minute stroll from the main drag, which means you can sense it's a game day from hours before, something which Swansea will never have.

I headed to the local Wetherspoons. My online appeals for a ticket had proved unfruitful so I was trying my luck on the street. It was the same story everywhere. "I only got my ticket through him a couple of days ago", said a middle-aged man pointing to his mate. "I was refreshing the page for hours the other day just to secure my tickets." They tell me it's been the same story since being in League Two. The new Kop stand will hold around 7,000 fans, taking the capacity to 18,000. "It will be ready this time next year" I am apparently told, but that seems ambitious, since the construction site shows no sign of a new stand yet.

Wrexham AFC scarves and shirts adorn the wall up high, but despite being full of reds, I have no luck getting a ticket. I speak to another elderly gentleman, who picks up my accent. "Are you from Swansea?.. Good on you, welcome to Wrexham" he says without irony. I speak to several fans like that, some devoted fans, others just local people pleasantly bemused at the sensation that has hit their town.

Spoons proved unsuccessful. Wrexham do offer a dedicated section of tickets to international fans, but nonetheless I am sure the folk are now used to chancers dropping by into their small city for a one-off game. I decide to move to the streets. Plenty of Swans fans are to be seen as you move east on Hope Street towards the charming St. Giles' Church.

It turns out I am not the only ticketless Jack. "None of us have tickets, we are just here for the weekend" says a group of about 8 fans heading to the Ironworks pub. It's rammed with rowdy Swans fans and the atmosphere is bouncing. We have a swift one before heading to the ground, our last chance.

First we head to the ticket office. No last-minute returns and the lady confirms the screenshot I was sent by a "Wrexham fan" offering me his second-hand ticket was a fake. It was not a wasted trip as we catch the Swans bus pull in, led by our man Vitor. I'm struck by how tall and imposing Cameron Burgess is (below)

Our final call is the now world-famous Turf pub. "You're going to punch me but I'm actually a blue", a gentleman in his 70s says to me with a glint in his eye. "But I always liked Swansea - I used to court a girl from Ynysforgan". I offer my condolences before he tells me the best man to ask for a ticket in Wrexham is Wayne Jones, owner of the pub and Welcome to Wrexham star. Unfortunately Mr Jones is not to be seen, with six or seven of his busy staff serving the thirsty public their Wrexham Lager.

Resigned to watching the game on TV, we find our corner and settle in. As kick-off approaches, the crowd thins but every table remains taken. It appears we are far from the only unlucky interlopers. North American accents are to be heard all around. "Ryan Reynolds is from my city", one excitable Canadian lady tells me. "We are from BC [British Columbia]". My new friend works in real estate in Vancouver. "Even the Californians think it's expensive". I wonder what the folk of Bala and Bangor would think of the prices.

The less said about the game, the better. I'm never a good loser at the best of times, but the American family next to me talking about anything but football throughout the game gets to me. Our lack of purpose in the second half annoys me. The Canadian family (all kitted out in Wrexham tops) barely watching the game but celebrating the goals vociferously grinds my gears.

But the pièce de résistance is the Sky Sports commentary. The first-half was shown on Main Event, but it switched to the Rob and Ryan circus for the second-half. Their faces appeared in the bottom right, and I waited patiently for them to disappear and the full screen of the football to come back. About a minute later, I realised I would be subjected to watching us ponderously struggle against a compact team on 3/4 screen, with two gurning, gesticulating celebrities overdramatising every moment.

We leave as soon as the final whistle goes. The Turf is a fantastic pub with history and fandom filling every corner. I see Mr Jones on my way out of the door, greeting the incoming match-going locals. The "Welcome to Wrexham" cameramen film the fans streaming out of the gates, jigging and singing. I feel sick.

A self-flagellating scroll of X before bed is the cherry on top. I met many passionate and welcoming Wrexham fans during my afternoon, and the Indy featured a great preview piece with my friend and lifelong Wrexham fan Leon Barton just a day ago. But the online Wrexham fans are vicious, small-minded, and crowing. The popular Fearless In Devotion podcast post a particularly antagonising 2-0 scoreline featuring a Welsh flag beating a union jack. I find this particularly confusing and hostile from a club playing in the English system, with a ground sponsored by a New York based/French conglomerate, with a Canadian and American co-owner, who were introduced to the club by an old Etonian. It appears everyone is accepted here apart from the non-Welsh British.

Welcome to Wrexham.

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Photographs : Reuters & Rhys Clayton