Of all the players to pop up and carry Wrexham through to the next round of the Carabao Cup, we’d never have guessed Ollie Palmer would come to the rescue, and neither would Josh Windass.
Putting out a heavily rotated squad for the visit of Hull City on Tuesday night, Phil Parkinson clearly wasn’t placing any real emphasis on the Carabao Cup.
The Wrexham boss made 11 changes to his line-up, but even then, Ollie Palmer still had to settle for a place on the bench as rumours regarding his future at the club persist.
However, with Wrexham trailing 3-1 to the Tigers, it was Palmer who came to the rescue, with the big striker bagging two goals in injury time to take the tie to penalties, where the Red Dragons eventually prevailed.
Josh Windass admits he was wrong about Ollie Palmer
Obviously, the Wrexham players were buzzing with Palmer’s impact on the night, with plenty sending him messages of support and congratulations for his double strike.
Funnily enough, one of the best messages came from Josh Windass, who had previously claimed he was ‘miles better’ than Palmer in a past interview before he joined Wrexham.
That came in the wake of Palmer suggesting he would score 20 goals in a season if he played for Manchester City, something that Windass mocked and refuted on the spot.
Windass described Palmer as ‘delusional’, but after seeing his teammate bag a crucial brace against Hull, Windass took to Instagram to back the veteran striker.
“Maybe you would score 20 for Man City after all,” Windass wrote.
It’s a hilarious U-turn from Windass, who would never normally admit he’s wrong about anything, but he clearly felt the need to shoot the subtle apology to his colleague on social media this time.
Ollie Palmer double still won’t save his Wrexham career
There’s no denying that Ollie Palmer is the big winner from that victory over Hull, and it could well be the performance that saves his Wrexham career, at least for now.
With Kieffer Moore injured and Jay Rodriguez undergoing surgery, there’s every chance that Parkinson looks at Palmer as someone he can rely on as back-up for the likes of Ryan Hardie and Sam Smith in the meantime.
However, Wrexham have shown they are not afraid to splash the cash already this summer, and if they do find a suitable forward to sign, like Nathan Broadhead for example, then Palmer’s exit could well still happen before deadline day.
We’ve seen Parkinson and the Wrexham chiefs ruthlessly move on players who are not at the required level. Though these two goals will do Palmer the world of good, this one moment of success is not likely to be enough to completely change perceptions of the striker in Parkinson’s eyes.