A week that should tell us plenty about Wrexham’s promotion prospects started in fine style with a 1-0 win over Rotherham United.
Paul Mullin’s first-minute strike sets the Welsh club up nicely for upcoming fixtures against Huddersfield Town on Tuesday and then Charlton Athletic next weekend. The Athletic picks out the main talking points.
Marriott’s unfortunate break, Mullin’s perfect timing
Who writes Paul Mullin’s scripts? Even at a club whose every move is captured by the Welcome to Wrexham documentary cameras, the striker’s ability to deliver on cue is remarkable.
Take his two goals on the day Wrexham clinched promotion to the EFL by beating Boreham Wood or how a late double the previous year against Stockport County had booked a Wembley trip in the FA Trophy.
Failing that, there was the spectacular fashion in which Mullin announced his scoring return after suffering four broken ribs and a punctured lung in pre-season with an overhead kick at home to Crewe Alexandra, the first of 24 goals in League Two to take Phil Parkinson’s side to a second promotion.
He was at it again on Saturday. Brought back into the starting XI following a freak training-ground injury that will keep Jack Marriott out for at least four months, the 29-year-old took just 16 seconds to find the net. It was a typically predatory finish, too, after being set up by a delicious cross from Ryan Barnett, cementing his place as the division’s leading assist-maker.
Considering the pre-match angst over five-goal top scorer Marriott suffering a broken fibula when attempting a shot on Thursday, Mullin’s first league goal since undergoing back surgery in the summer could not have been better timed.
It can also surely only bolster a striker who, let us not forget, is now operating in unconquered territory, his only previous stint at this level in 2019-20 yielding three goals from 20 appearances in Tranmere Rovers colours.
Against Rotherham, he was exemplary. Be that his tireless pressing game that was still going strong deep into stoppage time or the clever link-up play that ensured Wrexham remained a big threat on the break when resolutely defending their lead in the second half.
“We gave Mulls a few days off (during the international break) and it did him good,” said manager Phil Parkinson, when asked if the Liverpudlian is ready to take on the goalscoring mantle in Marriott’s absence.
“I felt he was back to his best in training this week, really firing on all cylinders. The goal was brilliant but what I felt was top class was his all-round game.”
Care will have to be taken not to overburden Mullin, who naturally will want to start all three games this week. Asked if ideally he would have been able to give the striker a breather in the final quarter, Parkinson replied: “Yes, possibly. But I did feel he was looking strong.
“You have to remember Mulls is an athlete, a really fit lad. As he has shown time and time again, he can run the hard yards for the team, which is what we need. The days of having a luxury goalscorer at the top of the pitch are long gone. Everyone has to work and everyone has to press. Mulls did that brilliantly.”
There is no doubt losing Marriott is a blow. His five goals in 10 league appearances this term have come from an 2.91xG, according to scouting tool Wyscout — suggesting it was the striker’s cool finishing that had turned tough opportunities into goals.
But there cannot be a better ready-made replacement in League One than Mullin.
Parkinson’s old foe missing from the touchline
There was a notable absentee from the touchline on Saturday, as home manager Steve Evans served a one-game ban after totting up three bookings this season.
Considering one of Parkinson’s first managerial clashes with the Scot had descended into a saloon bar-style brawl that led to five players being sent off, maybe this was for the best.
The melee in question came a little over a dozen years ago as Bradford City, then struggling near the foot of League Two, hosted Evans’ Crawley Town, who boosted their own promotion hopes with a 2-1 victory.
In an ill-tempered encounter, Parkinson and assistant Steve Parkin clashed repeatedly with Evans and assistant Paul Raynor. That finger-wagging on the touchline, however, was only the prelude to the night’s big flashpoint at the final whistle as Crawley defender Claude Davis and Bradford counterpart Andrew Davies traded punches.
Cue a free-for-all so brutal it even made the following day’s BBC national news bulletin. Such was the ferocity of the clash, referee Ian Williamson had to wait until the two teams had returned to the dressing room before dismissing the culprits.
Later, Evans would be found guilty of “using abusive and insulting words and behaviour” towards a female member of City’s staff in the tunnel area and was given a six-game stadium ban.
For Wrexham’s visit, the Scot was only banished from the touchline, so able to follow events from the directors’ box as long-time ally Raynor led operations from the dugout.
Like Parkinson, the Rotherham assistant had plenty to say, particularly in the direction of referee Ben Atkinson over his failure to award a late penalty for handball.
But there was never any danger of things boiling over, helped no doubt by how the layout of Rotherham’s home means the two dugouts are a good 50 yards apart.
“We’ve had some real battles over the years,” said Parkinson when asked afterwards about his counterpart being confined to the directors’ box. “But he’s a good manager. You have to be good to beat a Steve Evans team.”
The Big Apple in south Yorkshire…
As a New York resident, Ryan Reynolds’ interest may well have been piqued by the name of Rotherham’s home when following his club’s hard-fought victory from across the Atlantic.
In a gritty town probably as far removed as possible from the glitz and glamour of the Big Apple, the New York Stadium may seem an incongruous title, almost as if a marketing guru got a bit carried away.
Instead, it is a nod to Rotherham’s proud industrial history, with the distinctive fire hydrants on New York’s streets being made by the old Guest and Chrimes Foundry that occupied the site where the stadium now sits for the best part of 150 years.
(Top photo: James Baylis – AMA/Getty Images)
