Five years ago Salford City versus Stockport County was a sixth tier fixture and barely a blip on the radar outside fans of both clubs.
On Saturday night the duo meet in the League Two play-offs in front of a national TV audience, seeking a place in Wembley and a shot at promotion.
The two clubs have contrasting stories but the same aim. County returned to the Football League last season after 11 years away amid financial strife. But the Hatters were a long-term fixture in the EFL having first joined in 1900.
Salford, on the other hand, are the new(ish) kids on the block. Bankrolled from non-league invisibility to the limelight by Manchester United's Class of 92. They were promoted out of the National League in 2019 and this is their first foray into the fourth tier play-offs.
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It's difficult to label the two as rivals, but their recent history has overlapped and for County manager Dave Challinor, a graduate of Salford University, the Ammies are a club who have grown in tandem with his managerial career.
"My move up the league has coincided with theirs," he told the Manchester Evening News. "One of my play-off finals (with Fylde) was a loss to them (in the 2019 National League). They have a model to try and move through the divisions and they have found it tough to get out of League Two.
"When Gary (Neville) was first setting things up he came over to Fylde and spoke to the owner there and tried to get as many opinions as he could. Ultimately he has made his own decisions and it has worked in getting to the EFL and they haven't stumbled but they might have envisaged to bounce straight through and invested in a squad to make that happen and that is not always the case, especially in this league.
"But there is no animosity between the two clubs, I think they deserve respect no matter how they go about it or how they can afford to go about it."
County will start the semi-final as favourites having finished fourth to Salford's seventh as well as taking four points off them in the league this term. But play-off fixtures pay little attention to logic, something Challinor knows more than most.
"My play-off story goes back to the my last two years of playing and I have been involved in 10 since then," said the County chief. "Everything has happened, won semi-finals, lost semi-finals, won finals, lost finals, won on penalties, lost on penalties. I've had goalkeepers score for me in two games, a goalkeeper score against me in a game. You have to expect anything!
The first leg takes place at Moor Lane on Saturday night (7.45pm) before the return at Edgeley Park a week later (12.30pm). The victors will meet either Bradford City or Carlisle United in a Wembley showpiece on Bank Holiday Sunday later this month.
