It was a very happy Good Friday for Wrexham and their star striker Paul Mullin as he scored a brace in a 2-0 win over promotion rivals Mansfield Town at the Racecourse.
Friday’s win means that the Welsh side are now level on points with Mansfield, and are just one point off league leaders Stockport County, although the Hatters do have a game in hand over Wrexham.
However, Friday’s win was a real statement of intent from Phil Parkinson’s side, and striker Paul Mullin was at his very best, scoring in the first-half, before smashing a penalty past Christy Pym in the Mansfield goal to double his side’s tally and to give his side all three points.
Paul Mullin’s penalty shows how clinical he is
When Wrexham were awarded a penalty with just less than 25 minutes remaining, it marked a huge moment in the game.
There was clearly plenty of pressure on Mullin to score with it being such an important game, but he showed no signs of nerves and clinically put his penalty away.
Many players may have shown signs of nerves in that situation, but not Mullin, who smashed it straight down the middle, giving Pym in the Mansfield goal no chance of keeping it out of the back of the net.
It sealed all three points for his side in a massive game, and just highlighted how clinical and composed he is in front of goal.
Despite being a massive game anyway, there was even more pressure on the 29-year-old, with the game live in front of the Sky Sports cameras, but that didn’t faze the Liverpool-born striker in the slightest, and he showed his class yet again.
With just six games remaining for Wrexham this season, they’re going to need Mullin to continue to find the back of the net if they’re to win automatic promotion, and make it back-to-back promotions.
Mullin is a modern-day Wrexham legend, and, as above, supporters have been quick to take to social media to praise the striker for his performance against Mansfield.
If he is successful in firing Wrexham to League One, he’ll surely go down in the club’s history books.
Paul Mullin’s 2023/24 season
As expected, Paul Mullin has had no issues in adapting to League Two football after starring in the National League last season.
His brace on Friday took his league tally to 18 goals for the season – putting him sixth in the League Two goalscoring charts.
Despite this Mullin did endure a goal drought by his standards at the turn of the year, failing to score for seven games between 13th January and 27th February, although he has scored eight times since then, so has re-found form.
If Mullin plays well, normally Wrexham do too, so it’s crucial that he continues to shine in the weeks to come.
The striker has found the back of the net 99 times since joining the club in 2021, and it looks inevitable that he’ll reach a century before this season is done.
Mullin is back to his best, and his penalty against Mansfield just highlighted how clinical he is.
