Paul Mullin’s first half hat-trick helped Wrexham to thump Accrington Stanley 4-0 at the STōK Cae Ras.
After three away games on the trot, Wrexham were finally treated to a home game. Of late, the Reds at the STōK Cae Ras have seen low scores by Wrexham’s standards, and so a high scoring victory felt close by.
The events of the first half laid testament to that.
Ryan Barnett got his customary assist for the opener, as Mullin headed home from the near-post amongst some whimsical marking from Kelvin Mellor.
This marked his first goal in open play since January 13, against AFC Wimbledon.
Mullin’s second and 94th Wrexham goal came in the 25th minute, as he struck a delightful shot, skidding off the turf and into Radek Vitek’s bottom right corner.
There was new exuberance and life embedded into Wrexham’s performance and the atmosphere springing off from it.
There wasn’t a constant bombardment of chances in the first half, but every major one seemed to turn to gold.
The 35 minute hat-trick was sealed, when Elliot Lee’s cross bounced perfectly into the corridor of uncertainty, seeing Vitek and his backline leave the ball for each other. Mullin and Will Boyle were left completely unmarked at the back-post, and a clever header into the ground from the former secured a second hat-trick of the season.
Mullin said post-match: “Today, we’ve created a lot of chances and to be honest, I probably should have scored more than three.”
The perfect response from a striker looking to bring his tonne up for the Club.
Mullin and Lee swapped roles for the fourth goal in the 41st minute, as a one-two turned one-two-three-four-five resulted in Lee stabbing a finish into the far corner of the Accrington goal. Quite the finish, seeing as though Aaron Pickles was blocking Lee’s line of sight to the netting.
After a month of nearly moments and poor results, this half of football was quite the response.
Phil Parkinson said post-match: “We’ve dominated a lot of games without really getting our rewards. But we’ve kept believing that that dominance would be turned into goals.”
It was also important to note the performance of Ollie Palmer, upon his first start since mid-December. Despite not contributing in terms of goals or assists, his movement allowed everything to click for Wrexham.
Parkinson added: “I felt that Ollie [Palmer] deserved his opportunity and he took it well. I thought he played well, with his general play being good.”
Taking a four-goal lead into the break, one wouldn’t have been misplaced for thinking that Wrexham would manage the game and see the second half out.
Although the match still finished 4-0, Wrexham’s attacking threat was just as persistent as it was in the first half. Vitek was forced into a number of excellent saves to prevent the scoreline from getting embarrassing for the visitors.
It was the perfect ninety minutes for Wrexham, securing a thumping victory that had felt close for so long.
Due to Morecambe’s 3-2 comeback victory against Crewe Alexandra, Wrexham moved back into the automatic promotion spots, level on points with Stockport County in second.
With only one win at home since the start of November, it’ll be the perfect opportunity for Parkinson’s side to go and claim the three points at Morecambe this Saturday.
