FC Halifax Town: FA Trophy a family affair for captain Wroe

Among the coachloads of Town supporters travelling down the M1 on Sunday, one will be carrying the family and friends of captain Nicky Wroe.
Nicky WroeNicky Wroe
Nicky Wroe

The Halifax skipper will be cheered on by more than 40 of his friends and relatives as he leads The Shaymen out at Wembley.

It will be his second appearance at the national stadium after winning the Conference play-off final with Torquay in 2009, an occasion which also saw the Wroe clan visit Wembley en masse.

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“A lot of the lads will have a lot of family and friends coming down so everybody will have their own motivation to do well and win,” he said.

“That puts an extra pressure on you but it’s not a negative thing, that will ensure everybody is focused.

“I’ll have quite a lot of family and friends coming down, about 40 plus.

“My mum organised a coach-load for the Torquay game and she’s doing that again.

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“A lot of lads will be out of contract after the game as well so it’s a chance to put yourself in the shop window and prove you’re good enough either to stay at Halifax or move elsewhere.”

Wroe’s connection with the national stadium goes back to 2000 when he was one of three Barnsley schoolchildren chosen to be a ball boy for the Tykes’ play-off final against Ipswich at the old Wembley.

Nine years later, he was back there as a player.

“It was a great experience,” he said of the 2009 play-off final. “You dream of playing there and winning there; I can’t imagine it’s a great place to lose.

“I wasn’t really nervous too much, I was more anxious to get on with the game.

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“There’s always a lot of build up with these occasions and you’re aware of how much is riding on it.

“There were 35,000 people there on the day, which is a lot more than what I’d usually played in front of.

“It’s things like the noise level - you’d struggle to each other’s shouts as clearly.”

Wroe is excited at the prospect of leading out Halifax as skipper and is bullish about their chances on the day.

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“It will be really special - a really proud moment to lead them out,” he added.

“We were all hoping we would survive and it’s such a shame we couldn’t do enough to guarantee safety, then it would have been even more special.

“So we’ve even more reason now to try and win the game. Not to make amends but put a smile back on the fans’ faces and create some optimism ahead of next season.

“I’m confident we can get a result. We’ll go into it as underdogs but that was the case against them at The Shay and that suited us.

“We’ll be at long odds to win we’ve beaten them before and we’re a totally different team to the won that lost 7-0 at their place.”