Wrexham Women beat Briton Ferry Llansawel on Sunday to secure promotion to Welsh football's top women's league.
The Red Dragons' 1-0 win over the Genero Adran South winners at Latham Park means they will be returning to the top flight, now called the Genera Adran Premier, for the first time since reforming in 2018 following a disbanding in 2016.
Rebecca Pritchard’s goal in the 74th minute was enough to seal the win for her side, while there was some resolute goalkeeping from Delyth Morgan in the Wrexham net with the keeper making several vital saves in the dying moments of the game.
Wrexham’s squad are now due to turn semi-professional following their promotion, seeing them become the first women's team in the Welsh football pyramid to do so.
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Owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who have been proud backers of the women's set-up since their takeover in 2021, made their feelings known on social media.
The former wrote on Instagram: "Wow. Wow. Wow. PROMOTION!!!!! So proud of this club!!!!!" The latter posted on Twitter: "ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. CONGRATULATIONS @WrexhamAFCWomen!!!!!!!"
Speaking after the game, Morgan said she was “speechless” with the achievement. “I can’t put it into words," she said. "This has been a two-year process, and it’s something we’ve fought so hard for, especially this year.
“Winning 12 games out of 12 in the league and all the support we’ve received along the way has gotten bigger as the years have gone on. Having all of them at the Racecourse last month was unreal and they gave us the belief that we could win the game.”
Morgan, alongside Pritchard and Phoebe Davies, are the only players in the current Wrexham squad who also featured in the Red Dragons' last top-flight appearance back in 2016, when the club went by the name of Wrexham Ladies. Upon reforming in 2018, it did so in association with the men's team.
The Red Dragons went into the play-off game on Sunday after winning the Adran North title in front of a record-breaking crowd of more than 9,500 people at the Racecourse last month.
However, it was their opponents Ferry who started the brightest out of the two sides, dominating the opening exchanges with the likes of Laura-May Walkley, Meg Kearle and Lowri Baker all coming close to opening the scoring.
Ferry were made to pay for their lack of clinical edge 15 minutes from time when Pritchard connected on the end of a Rosie Hughes cross in the six-yard box to toe the ball home. Hughes came close to doubling her side's lead soon after, with her long-range effort crashing against the crossbar.
Morgan was again forced into action near the end when she palmed away Millie Jones' effort, before tipping Lucy Powell’s free-kick onto the bar as her side held out for the win.
Wrexham’s head of football operations Gemma Owen, who also played for Wrexham Ladies, said: “This is the first big step of what Wrexham women are looking to do. I hope people can now see what the standard of football is like with clubs in tier two. It was a challenge we worked towards all season and we will do a lot of work over the next few months to build on what we have done.
"The new owners coming in has allowed us to have a bigger platform to be able to showcase what we already have. Both Rob and Ryan - and the board - have been incredibly supportive of what we are trying to do, it has allowed us to show how good women's football is in Wales as a whole."
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