Equalling your biggest away win against local rivals who you’ve visited 71 times since 1895 is fun, even when they rotate their squad.

It’s particularly satisfying, and a sign of our remarkable squad depth, that we actually rotated our side more than Crewe did on Tuesday.

They made nine changes from their previous side, whereas none of the eleven who ground out a fine win at Crawley were even on the bench.

When you look at the quality of the side we put out, and the classy way we controlled the game, you can see that we’re highly unlikely to suffer the misfortune of 2022.

We managed a superb run to conclude the season before last, but couldn’t quite achieve promotion or claim the FA Trophy as a consolation prize, mainly because injuries pushed our squad to the limit.

Phil Parkinson, his hands tied by the transfer windows, simply hadn’t had enough time to complete his squad, and he ended up having to patch solutions together.

In the midst of the dramatic battle for the title with Stockport, and our subsequent losses to Grimsby and Bromley, it’s easy to forget just what a massive part injuries played in our failure to end the first full season under Rob and Ryan with silverware.

Take that FA Trophy final: injury robbed us of Rob Lainton, Aaron Hayden, Bryce Hosannah, Harry Lennon and Ryan Austin. When Parkinson looked to his bench to shake things up, he saw six players who he would release a couple of weeks later, and Dave Jones, his player-coach who had played just 131 minutes that season and hadn’t played at all in four months.

There would have to be a remarkable catastrophe for us to be in that situation this season. The “second eleven” selected on Tuesday was packed full of experience and quality. The game was an opportunity for them to make a case for their involvement in the league matches, and plenty of them took that chance.

Jordan Davies, obviously, caught the eye most. Phil Parkinson revealed after the game at Crawley that he’d be starting, his efforts off the bench having been so impressive.

They certainly have. After injury ruined last season for him, Davies had an excellent pre-season and was terrific off the bench on the opening day of the season, scoring a screamer against MK Dons.

However, an injury set him back which, combined with the superb form of Elliot Lee in his most natural position, meant Tuesday was only his second start of the campaign.

And what a start! A brilliant goal and a clever assist, alongside diligent defensive work and a series of accurate progressive passes, left Parkinson with the sort of selection headache he would welcome.

Max Cleworth’s assured performance in the heart of an imperturbable back three also caught the eye, as did Jordan Tunnicliffe’s typically tidy performance, which allowed him to get more minutes into his legs.

In midfield, Andy Cannon needed a good performance after his dismissal at Crawley, and put on a show of classy dominance in the heart of midfield.

Jake Bickerstaff also reminded us that, at the start of the season, he was our main attacking threat with a performance of typical heart and feistiness.

We also got a chance to see our new goalkeeper, Luke McNicholas, who shaped up very impressively. Our defence kept Crewe at arm’s length, but some well-struck shots from the edge of the area were dealt with proficiently by McNicholas, who clearly has good hands and a tidy technique.

We’ve got a pleasing amount of depth in our squad at the moment. It’s another reason to be very satisfied with the league position we occupy after a quarter of the season. The discrepancy between our rotated team and that of Crewe shows how much quality there is at Parkinson’s disposal compared to our peers.

We have only been in the same division as Salford City once, in 2018-19, when we enjoyed a spectacular Boxing Day victory.

Graham Barrow’s team delivered one of Wrexham’s greatest National League performances, clobbering Graham Alexander’s side 5-1.

A crowd of 8,283 created a pulsating atmosphere and Wrexham responded, taking a third minute lead through skipper Shaun Pearson. Akil Wright scored a second in the 25th minute and Brad Walker’s long range strike as the game entered stoppage time at the end of the first half gave Wrexham a three-goal lead which reflected their dominance.

Debutant Ben Tollitt came off the bench to score a fine goal with four minutes left. Another substitute would grab the fifth as Chris Holroyd put the icing on the cake.