da dobrowin： Paul Mullin scored an incredible first-half hat-trick as Wrexham romped to a 4-0 win over Accrington Stanley to boost their promotion hopes.
da wazamba： Article continues below
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Wrexham back on track after three without a winMullin bags his second treble of the seasonElliot Lee also on target with stunner from rangeGetty ImagesTELL ME MORE
The Red Dragons were utterly dominant against John Coleman's side, racing into a four-goal first-half lead as Mullin initially got things started after just 17 minutes, nodding home Ryan Barnett's cross. It would be two shortly after, as that man Mullin grabbed his second, drilling home into the corner of the net. And the 29-year-old completed his hat-trick after just 35 minutes – this time converting Elliot Lee's pinpoint delivery to mean it was effectively game over.
Wrexham weren't done there, though, with Lee himself getting on the scoresheet with arguably the goal of the game, bending home an effort from range to put the hosts four up. The Red Dragons failed to add more to their tally in the second half, despite creating a number of presentable opportunities, but the job was already done, and Lewis Shipley's disgraceful late red card compounded the visitors' misery.
AdvertisementTHE MVP
Paul Mullin of course – how could it be anyone else?! The 29-year-old hasn't had it all his own way this season and has even found himself benched at times. He is, though, a goalscoring master, as proven by his 38 league goals in the promotion-winning campaign last term, and he was back to his very best here with a second hat-trick of the 2023-24 campaign. Deadly.
THE BIG LOSER
It's got to be Lewis Shipley. The Accrington defender, on loan from Norwich City, was rightly given a straight red card for an awful late challenge on Andy Cannon that was lucky not to have injured the Wrexham midfielder. It wasn't the first time he'd been targeted either, with substitute Josh Woods very fortunate not to have been sent off himself for a similarly disgraceful studs-up tackle on Wrexham's unfortunate No.20.
GettyWHAT COMES NEXT?
Phil Parkinson will be delighted to see Wrexham pick up their first win in four games to get their promotion hopes back on track. The Red Dragons are now third in League Two and just three points behind leaders Mansfield Town, albeit with Nigel Clough's side having a game in hand. Next up is a tricky test away at Morecambe, with the side who are currently ninth in the table unlikely to make life easy.