A decisive twist in Wrexham’s pursuit of footballing immortality via a historic fourth straight promotion? Or merely the prelude to yet more drama in the final few weeks of the season.

Wrexham’s penchant for Hollywood endings means nothing can be discounted until the mathematicians say so. But, really, this did feel like a night when those play-offs hopes were dealt a potentially fatal blow.

Being thrashed 5-1 by a Southampton team who had started the night one point and one place behind Phil Parkinson’s side in the table was bad enough.

Much more damning, however, was the manner in which Wrexham’s shortcomings were brutally exploited during what proved to be the club’s biggest home loss since Gateshead ran riot to triumph 7-2 at The Racecourse Ground in 2011.

First, the damaging recent trend of starting games slowly continued, this being the fourth time in six Championship outings that Wrexham had found themselves 2-0 down.

Against lesser sides such as West Bromwich Albion — where a two-goal half-time deficit on Good Friday was turned round sufficiently to rescue a point — such a position is far from irredeemable.

But Southampton, with the kind of quality that proved too much for Premier League leaders Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-finals as recently as last Saturday, are a very different prospect.

A repeat of the individual errors that proved costly in those March defeats to Watford and Hull City also made an unwelcome return, along with a vulnerability when defending set-pieces.

Southampton celebrated a massive win that puts them in the box seat for a play-off place (Mark Sutton/Getty Images)

Wrexham, to their credit, did give it a good go for 25 or so minutes either side of half-time, twice hitting a post through Kieffer Moore and Nathan Broadhead either side of Josh Windass’ 12th league goal of the season.

But, there was still a sense Southampton had another gear to move into, should it be required. Hence, Tonda Eckert’s side were full value for a victory that opened up a two-point advantage over Wrexham to go with their game in hand and a vastly superior goal difference that was boosted by a significant eight-goal swing.

“We’re not giving up,” says Parkinson about those attempts to extend the season beyond May 2 via the play-offs. “But we have to respond. There’s five games to go, 15 points to play for. We’ve worked very hard to give ourselves a chance.

“We’ve also left a lot of really good sides in our wake this season. They’d all love to be in our position. Tonight was not a good night. We have to accept that. But, we are big enough to accept ownership of this performance, albeit against a top team.”

For the best part of two months, this fixture had loomed large on the horizon for both teams. Southampton’s charge up the table — they were 15th in mid-January — together with Wrexham occupying sixth place for a decent chunk of those past nine weeks, meant this always had the potential to be season-defining.

So it proved, as Southampton became the latest side to capitalise on that recent trait of Wrexham starting games slowly.

Twenty five minutes had elapsed before the hosts managed to even touch the ball inside the Southampton penalty area, never mind threaten Daniel Peretz’s goal. And by then, the visitors were already two goals to the good via strikes from Kuryu Matsuki and Flynn Downes.

Given Southampton had only dropped points from a winning position twice in the previous 21 league games — Portsmouth and Charlton Athletic both rescuing a 1-1 draw apiece— a comeback seemed unlikely.

Phil Parkinson watches on as Wrexham suffer their biggest home defeat in 15 years (Mark Sutton/Getty Images)

Credit, therefore, for how Wrexham responded, belatedly bringing a sense of urgency to their play and halving the deficit through Windass’ composed 34th minute finish.

Had Moore levelled things by finding the net instead of a post from a couple of yards out, maybe Wrexham could have pulled off one of those famous turnarounds. As it was, Southampton reasserted their authority after that let-off and went on to inflict Wrexham’s biggest home loss for 15 years.

Back then, as Gateshead ran riot in the Conference, there was a lot more to concern supporters than a heavy beating on the pitch.

They were once again locked in a fight for the club’s survival, that seven-goal loss seeing fans invade the directors box in protest as rumours of a takeover by former Chester chairman Stephen Vaughan swept through the stadium.

Just six months on from Gateshead’s resounding February, 2011, triumph, fans were having to rally round to raise £100,000 in just 24 hours to prevent Wrexham being kicked out of the Conference.

Not long after that, the Supporters Trust took charge, running the club for the next decade and paving the way for the takeover by Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac.

Compared to those turbulent days, the second biggest defeat of Parkinson’s reign is very small beer.

That’s not to say this defeat to a major play-offs rival didn’t hurt. Especially the manner of it, which considering how tough Wrexham’s run-in looks — they travel to champions elect Coventry City on the penultimate weekend, followed by a home clash with a Middlesbrough side likely to be chasing automatic promotion on the final day — doesn’t exactly bode well.

Nevertheless, Wrexham continue to dare to dream when it comes to chasing a fourth straight promotion.

“We’d have taken this position in August,” says midfielder Matty James, whose return as a second half substitute after two months out with a broken toe was the one bright spot on an otherwise dark night, as attention now shifts to a reunion Birmingham City at the weekend.

“Something similar to this happened last year, when we dropped out of the top two (over Easter). There were only a couple of games to go then. So many things can still happen. We just have to focus on putting it right this Sunday.”