Revealed: Why Wrexham are only just recovering from Paul Mullin injury that caused ‘psychological’ damage to squad pieced together by Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney

The Dragons saw their prolific frontman – who hit 47 goals last season when firing the club to promotion back into the Football League – suffer a punctured lung during a supposedly friendly outing against Manchester United on a summer tour of America.

Wrexham have a number of other strikers on their books, but covering Mullin’s absence was always going to be tricky. Phil Parkinson’s side struggled for consistency without their talismanic No.10, but have battled their way to precious points over recent weeks and now boast the strength in depth that allows them to remain competitive regardless of who is stuck on the sidelines.

Home-grown star Davies has told The Athletic of Wrexham responding to losing Mullin and pulling together as a collective: “Essentially, we have two XIs. The gaffer has done really well to recruit the players to fill those two XIs. If someone is not playing well or gets injured, we have people capable of stepping in for every position. That can only serve us well going forward. Training every day is incredible. Even if the starters aren’t playing, the level is sky-high. Standards are top-notch. That comes from the togetherness we have here. There are 24 people here, all champing at the bit to play. Things do seem to be coming together now. Pre-season wasn’t ideal, with the schedule in America and Paul Mullin’s injury. That had a psychological effect on the team because we lost our top scorer. But now we feel to be getting people back fit, getting people back in form and the best is yet to come.”

Mullin has only registered two goals for Wrexham since returning to fitness – with both of those efforts coming in the same game against Crewe – but the Dragons have moved up to fifth in the League Two table and are on course to challenge for back-to-back promotions under the guidance of Hollywood co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.