If Notts County are going to secure promotion back to the Football League, they are going to have to do it the hard way - despite reaching over 100 points.
The Magpies can no longer win the National League after Wrexham sealed top spot with a 3-1 victory over Boreham Wood last weekend. Luke Williams' side battled the big-spending Red Dragons all the way in a thrilling title race but fell just short when the Welsh side's promotion was confirmed.
Notts, who face York City in their final league game of the season on Saturday evening, will now enter the play-offs with a hope and expectation to join Wrexham in League Two. The Magpies are currently on 106 points and they, alongside Wrexham (110), are statistically the best two teams in fifth tier history.
Captain Kyle Cameron has been key to Notts' success so far and admitted that this season has been a rollercoaster ride, having gone head-to-head with Wrexham since the start of the campaign. Chesterfield were also amongst the frontrunners before Notts and Wrexham pulled away after Christmas.
He told Mirror Football : "If you look at seasons in the past, 106 points would win every single season this league has seen, apart from this one. It's a little bit tough, we would have loved to win the league, but you have got to give some credit to Wrexham about what they have done this season.
"It has been incredible, so big congratulations to them. We're just hoping, fingers crossed, that we can get it over the line in the play-offs."
"It's one people are going to talk about, two teams on opposite ends of the spectrum, but on the same spectrum of winning games for the majority of the season," Cameron added.
"They have done amazing, they are sitting on 110 points at the moment and they could get 113 on Saturday. It has been neck-and-neck and back-and-forth all season and it's been a really good one to be involved in because it's going to go down in the history books for many years."
Wrexham edged Notts in a 3-2 thriller at the Racecourse Ground earlier this month - a result which all but sealed the Red Dragons' promotion back to the Football League. Ben Foster's late penalty save earned the Welsh side all three points to propel them further clear at the top of the table.
However, rather than heaping praise on his own side, Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds chose to hail the "special" Magpies after they helped created one of the best title races in fifth tier history. There has since been calls for two automatic promotion spots in the National League - rather than the allocated one.
"What makes it so special is how powerful, how special, how unique Notts County is," Reynolds told BT Sport after the game. "They're the real story here. What they've done this season: losing their CEO Jason Turner, who as I've grown to know and learn was utterly beloved not just in Notts but here as well.
"I have such enormous respect for everything they’ve built and everything that they’ve done and it's just insane for me that only one goes up automatically.
"If it were different - and I think it should be - both of these clubs would be celebrating together right now. Because what they've done is not only created drama greater than anything you’d see in a damn movie, but just something I think people will be talking about for ages.
"The fact this much attention has come upon the National League in this way I think is incredibly special and immensely worthy of not only Wrexham but Notts County as well. What they’ve done is so special, so unique."
Notts found out that Wrexham were champions when they were on the way back from their 5-2 win at Maidstone United last Saturday. A hat-trick from Jim O'Brien helped the Magpies to a convincing victory in Kent as they kept the pressure firmly on the Red Dragons ahead of their game.
However, despite missing out on automatic promotion, Cameron insists the mood has been uplifted ahead of the final day clash against York with Notts ready to fight in the play-offs. The Magpies will face either Barnet, Boreham Wood or Bromley in the semi-final on May 7.
He said: "The mood has been good. There was a little bit of disappointment on Saturday night but when it came to Monday morning, we were back in working hard with that goal of promotion.
"So, it's pretty straightforward with how the gaffer works things and how he deals with us mentally. We know what we need to do and working hard is something we've been doing all season.
"We have always been preparing for this scenario, we have prepared well this week, we are back to hard work as normal and going into Saturday's game with the play-offs in mind."
Notts are the division's highest scorers this season, having netted 116 goals in 45 matches to date - one more than Wrexham. However, 41 of those have been bagged by one man. That is Macaulay Langstaff, who broke the record for the most open play goals in a fifth-tier campaign earlier this month.
Cameron hailed the 26-year-old in a glowing statement. "He has been brilliant for us, he has scored a lot of goals and stepped up when we needed him most," the Notts skipper said.
"He has been a pivotal part of our promotion push. I think, for him, he could go as high as he wants to. It's up to him about how hard he works, that is down to him. It's not just his goals he brings to the team, it's his hard work and his running stats are always through the roof on a Sunday when they get sent into the group chat.
"He is always working hard, pressing things and never gives up. He's a positive and a real great player in the team."
