Wrexham’s player of the season: Who should succeed Paul Mullin?

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Goals have meant glory in recent years when it has come to Wrexham’s player of the season award.

Not only did Paul Mullin finish as top scorer for the upwardly-mobile Welsh club in each of the three campaigns before this one, but he also made history by picking up an unprecedented hat-trick of player of the season trophies, too.

There will, however, be no quadruple for the Liverpudlian, who has fallen out of favour to such an extent that he has not even made the bench for the past 10 league games. With results impressive during that time — Wrexham have collected 21 points, including Saturday’s goalless draw at Wigan Athletic — a return feels unlikely, barring injury.

So, who succeeds Mullin? The draw at Wigan offered a few pointers, at least in defence, with Wrexham’s work in possession leaving a lot to be desired as normally reliable performers such as Ollie Rathbone and George Dobson had an off day.

The same could be said of Wrexham’s wing-backs, arguably the most important positions on the field in manager Phil Parkinson’s setup. Ryan Longman had a promising 10 or so minutes after half-time up against Wigan’s Luke Robinson but, otherwise, was below the standard he has set since arriving from Hull City in a £500,000 January deal.

James McClean and his second-half replacement Ryan Barnett were also unable to make any headway in an attacking sense. Considering Barnett is top of League One’s list of leading assist-makers this season (nine), that perhaps explains why Wrexham failed to have even one effort on target.

On an afternoon when third-placed Wycombe Wanderers reduced the gap to one point with a last-gasp 1-0 victory over Stevenage, Wrexham did at least deliver on the adage ‘if you can’t win, don’t lose’.

Once again, a back line that has been solid and resolute all season ensured a 22nd clean sheet, more than any of their third-tier peers. Key was Arthur Okonkwo’s second-half save to deny Maleace Asamoah Jr after the Wigan forward’s pace had created what turned out to be the game’s only genuine chance. It is that kind of moment that helps explain why Opta’s expected goals against (xGA) metric shows that, before the short trip to Wigan, the Welsh club ought to have conceded an extra 10 goals across the season, based on the quality of chances created by the opposition.

Eoghan O’Connell was exemplary in his reading of the game, snuffing out several promising Wigan moves as the ball arrived in the penalty area.

The Irishman has had his wobbly moments this term, no doubt recalling the away defeats at Barnsley and Shrewsbury Town in January with a shudder. But overall, he has been a tower of strength in the middle of the back three, particularly during the recent run of clean sheets.

He has to be a leading candidate to succeed Mullin as player of the season along with Max Cleworth, the pair having played more minutes than any of their team-mates in the league this season (3,313 and 3,425 respectively).

Mullin has not featured in the league for Wrexham since January (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Academy graduate Cleworth has once again been a revelation when stepping up a division, his tenacity and determination in both penalty boxes bringing just reward. The 22-year-old’s seven goals make him the club’s joint-second top scorer behind ‘super-sub’ Steven Fletcher.

Perhaps the biggest contribution to Wrexham’s impressive defensive record, however, comes from a position that has been something of a headache at times this season, with both Okonkwo and backup goalkeeper Callum Burton suffering lengthy absences through injury.

In Okonkwo’s case, a broken wrist kept the former Arsenal ’keeper out for 11 league games. The 23-year-old then returned with a clean sheet against Peterborough early in the New Year only to concede six times in the next three games, the last of those a 3-2 loss at home to Stevenage when he was at fault for two of the goals.

Parkinson’s response was to take Okonkwo out of the spotlight, instead turning to Mark Howard, 39, due to Burton being out with a torn calf. Only when he felt the younger ’keeper was ready did he return in the 2-1 win at Mansfield Town on February 23. Since then, Okonkwo has been superb, a point underlined by him going into the weekend boasting the best save percentage in League One (77.42 per cent).

Interestingly, only Burton of the division’s other keepers with even a handful of games to their name has a better save percentage (92.31 from his four appearances and an xGA of 2.65 with just one goal conceded).

Parkinson has been impressed with Okonkwo, particularly how he dealt with being taken out of the team in the wake of that Stevenage loss.

“We’d put Arthur back in at a time when training had been a bit disjointed and he’d probably not had the level of training he needed,” he explains. “So, we pulled him back out of the team and Mark came in to do superbly well.

“We just felt it right to get Arthur really up to speed. Since coming back in, he’s been excellent. He’d be the first to admit that the work ethic of the team and the structure are the most important parts of the clean sheets.

“But, in fairness, there’s been a lot of key moments involving Arthur lately. I look at the save against Bolton, the tip over the bar against Stockport and then Wycombe away when they had their one real moment in the game. All 1-0 wins. Coming off the line to claim when 0-0 against Burton, too.

“That’s the sign of a good goalkeeper, who keeps his concentration levels high. And when called upon, can produce a moment that is the equivalent of a striker getting a goal.”

Last season’s player of the season award was a hard-fought affair with plenty of worthy candidates. Mullin deservedly got the nod for those 14 goals in the final 13 games that helped nudge Wrexham over the line, but Elliot Lee, Cleworth, O’Connell and McClean all had a claim.

This time around, it is equally tight but with four games remaining, The Athletic suggests Okonkwo is the man to beat, with Cleworth, O’Connell and Rathbone completing an impressive top four.

(Top photo: Richard Sellers/PA Images via Getty Images)

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