Wrexham striker, Steven Fletcher scored a hattrick against Barrow and as a result, has become the first Scotsman to do so in many years.
This weekend gone, Wrexham welcomed Barrow to The Racecourse and the game started quite badly. Kian Spence opened the scoring with less than a minute on the lock, putting the away side in front.
Despite this early setback, Phil Parkinson’s side didn’t drop their heads and eventually got back on level terms. With 16 minutes added on at the end of the first half the game flipped on its head.
Steven Fletcher scored two and Paul Mullin added to that with a top-quality goal to go in at halftime 3-1 up. The Scotsman grabbed his third of the day with just over 25 minutes away from the end to cement the result.
With the result, the hat trick hero has done something that hasn’t been done in 31 years in the English Football League.
Career first for Steven Fletcher
For a striker who is as seasoned as Fletcher, it is crazy to think that this was his first hat trick in English football.
He has played Premier League football with Wolves and Sunderland as well as Championship with Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke City. Even if this is the case, it has taken him 400 appearances to get his first triple.
This was reported by OptaJoe who said: “In his 400th appearance in English league football, Steven Fletcher has scored his first hat-trick. He is the first Scottish player aged 36+ to score an English league hat-trick since Gordon Strachan for Leeds against Blackburn in April 1993.”
As a result, he is the first to achieve this goal tally in 31 years and Fletcher himself achieved it in his 21st year as a footballer.
He signed for Wrexham this summer and despite scoring two in his first ten games, an injury ruled him out for two months. The striker returned against Newport County and scored his first goals since his return, against Barrow.
There had been some calls for a striker to be signed in this transfer window but with a hattrick, Fletcher has thrown his hat in the ring. With four shots on target and three goals, he certainly made his chances count.
Alongside Mullin, if he can continue this form moving forward, Wrexham could have a strike force to fire them to promotion. Fletcher is now fit to start and will be looking to add more to his tally this campaign.