Wrexham advanced to the second round of the Carabao Cup in dramatic fashion while Paul Mullin fired Wigan Athletic through.
Wrexham were beaten at Southampton on Saturday afternoon and were hoping to hit back with a Carabao Cup victory over Hull City.
Elliot Lee’s opener handed Wrexham the lead, but Hull took a 3-1 lead through goals from Oli McBurnie, Joel Ndala and Matt Crooks.
Wrexham appeared to be dead and buried before Ollie Palmer found two goals in a matter of moments.
Palmer has been made available for transfer by Phil Parkinson, but showed his quality off the bench with two fine headers.
Wrexham drew 3-3 with Hull but won the tie on penalties, scoring all five penalties to book a passage into the second round of the Carabao Cup.
Paul Mullin finds the net for Wigan Athletic
Tuesday night was a dramatic one for Wrexham, and the victory means there is a chance of a meeting with Wigan Athletic in the next round.
The Latics are through after a narrow 1-0 home win over League Two side Notts County on Tuesday night.
The goalscorer was Paul Mullin, who returned to haunt Notts County once more.
Wrexham and Notts County became promotion rivals in the National League and then battled it out in League Two during the 2023-24 season.
Mullin bagged two goals and three assists in six games against Notts County as a Wrexham player, so it was only right that he found the net against them again on Tuesday night.
Mullin joined Wigan Athletic this summer and now has his first competitive goal, firing home from the penalty spot in the first half.
Wigan’s Maleace Asamoah had been brought down inside the box, and Mullin stepped up to slam home his spot kick.
Pre-season saw Mullin score against a Liverpool Under-21 side, but a first competitive goal for the Latics should do him the world of good.
Ryan Lowe on Paul Mullin
Wigan boss Ryan Lowe has spoken about Mullin and cleared up a situation around his goal.
Asamoah quickly grabbed the ball after being fouled, seemingly putting himself forward to take the penalty.
Mullin was given the ball in the end, but Lowe admitted that there was ‘frustration’ between the two players over who would step up from 12 yards.
Lowe noted that Mullin was the designated penalty taker and loved seeing him get off the mark in competitive action.
“Obviously, there was a bit of frustration between Maleace and him, but Mulls was the penalty taker, as always he’s been all his life,” said Lowe.
“Maleace can hit a good penalty, and Maleace did the work. I called him over and said, ‘you’ve earned that, you’ve got your mate the penalty and one will come for you’.
“I’m pleased for any striker getting off the mark, of course, and it’s good for Mulls to get 60 minutes and a goal,” he added.
Mullin’s first competitive goal for Wigan is now in the books, but he will hope for a first League One goal with the Latics sooner rather than later, with Tuesday’s goal a potential springboard for his season.