Both the Washers and Middlesbrough came to realise their only real chance of gaining promotion to the Football League was through a reunion of the two teams.

The next season, Ironpolis had its best run in the FA Cup, losing to Preston North End in a quarter-final replay; in the original game, at the Paradise Ground, Preston played the second half with ten men due to injury, and McArthur scored a late equalizer for the home side to send the game into extra time, which could not split the sides.

[7] Ironopolis applied to join the Second Division for the 1893–94 season, and was originally unsuccessful in the vote; however, in August 1893, Accrington resigned, and Ironpolis was invited to take its place.

They played in total 28 games, won 8, drew 4, lost 16, scored 37 goals, conceded 72, and finished with 20 points.

[12] The club was formed during the late Victorian industrial boom and adopted the name "Ironopolis" (iron-city) partly to emphasise this (Middlesbrough was then a centre for iron and steel production; see Teesside Steelworks) and also to distinguish itself from the other local club, Middlesbrough F.C.