Wrexham 3-1 Boreham Wood: Paul Mullin’s brace fires Welsh club back into the Football League

There really was only one man for the two-goal rescue job which sent the shouts of ‘we’re going to win the league’, hammering through this old place last night.

Paul Mullin was the one Wrexham took a bold punt on two years ago, as they mounted what was been a sometimes agonising fight to get back to the Football League after 15 years’ absence. 

The Liverpudlian had had only one prolific season behind him at Cambridge United at the night and there were no certainties. 

But he has redefined the word ‘prolific,’ becoming the totemic figure in the team rebuilt under the ownership of Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds.

Mullin collected a ball on the left touchline and ran five yards to arc his 46th goal of the season and put Wrexham ahead here, early in the second half. A shimmy in front of a defender preceded his 47th.

All eyes were on the club owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney

Boreham Wood threatened to rip up the script when they scored in the opening minute

Boreham Wood threatened to rip up the script when they scored in the opening minute

But an Elliot Lee equaliser after 15 minutes settled the nerves of the sell-out Racecourse

But an Elliot Lee equaliser after 15 minutes settled the nerves of the sell-out Racecourse

There were echoes of his two-goal salvo in last season’s FA Trophy semi-final against Stockport County here which is said to have switched Reynolds onto to football in a way it never had before. 

But this mattered most. This was the one this club and town wanted.

Promotion will bring Wrexham to a level they have felt belonged to them all along, though the real rewards of the new ownership had already come and extend beyond the football field.

Those have not so much resided in McElhenney and Reynolds funding the club – with a lucrative TikTok sponsorship deal helping to fund the purchase of stars like Mullin, Ben Tozer and Elliot Lee – but in the way they have embraced and connected with the community. 

They follow some of those at the heart of the place on Twitter. Their support for Go Fund Me campaigns have led to local people supporting local people.

The town had so much that is smart and innovative before McElhenney and Reynolds arrived. 

The Wrexham Lager which has won some of Europe’s top prizes for its ales had seen its direct sales soar in lock-down as it teamed up Bootlegger, the Wrexham supporter whose YouTube videos had made him a sensation. 

There’s Wrexham Revival Trainers at the Ty Pawb market, where worn-out shoes are transformed. 

The beautiful Miners Rescue café, on Maesgwyn Road – saved from the bulldozers a decade ago to be a place commemorating 266 miners – many of the Wrexham fans – who died in the 1934 Gresford put disaster. 

The last two years have helped bring these and others out into the light.

Wrexham then turned on the style after the break with striker Paul Mullin scoring twice

Wrexham then turned on the style after the break with striker Paul Mullin scoring twice

When the final whistle sounded Reynolds looked overcome with emotion in the stands

When the final whistle sounded Reynolds looked overcome with emotion in the stands

Thousands of Wrexham fans streamed on to the Racecourse pitch with red flares being set off

Thousands of Wrexham fans streamed on to the Racecourse pitch with red flares being set off

For a time, the sight of McElhenney and Reynolds materialising at The Turf pub next to the ground was surreal, though now less so. 

McElhenney, who arrived in Wrexham in time for Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Yeovil – tends to make longer trips. 

Reynolds has been known for his flying visits, sometimes arriving at the local Hawarden private airport from New York in time for a 3pm kick-off and striding straight across the pitch for the 20-minute drive for the return flight, at the end.

They knew that this would be a new world for them but nothing quite prepared them for the way the town embraced them. 

Local singer and write Michael ‘Scoot’ Hett wrote what has become a terrace anthem, ‘Always Sunny in Wrexham’ with references to the town’s struggles – including the Spice epidemic of a few years ago which brought the place notoriety.

‘Less than a mile from the centre of town, Famous old stadium tumbling down,’ runs the lyric which rang out here last night. ‘No one gave so much as a penny, bring on the Deadpool. And Rob McElhenney.’

McElhenney was reduced to tears when it was sung at The Turf on one recent visit and when he arrived on a visit, Reynolds held a phone out inside the stadium for McElhenney to hear it. 

Before all this, Hett and his band Declan Swans were singing at pubs and Wrexham FC fundraisers in the club’s Centenary Suite, trying to get a party started. 

Now they have a strong US following, have put their work to vinyl and will support Kings of Leon, when they play The Racecourse this summer. 

In November 2020, Canadian actor Reynolds and American actor McElhenney bought the club

In November 2020, Canadian actor Reynolds and American actor McElhenney bought the club

‘The first time the owners came over, Ryan shared one of our videos on TikTok,’ Hett said. ‘It had had just over 1000 views before he posted it, but it’s now been seen by over 18 million people. Unbelievable really.’

At the Wrexham Lager brewery, they have been prepared the labelling for a new ‘Champions’ brew, which will now go on sale in supermarkets this week. ‘Don’t share that we’ve planned it,’ said the brewery’s sales manager Joss Roberts on Friday. ‘We don’t want to jinx it.’

For a time when the game began, it seemed that the label would remain the secret it had been. 

The ground was briefly silenced by a first-minute goal from Lee Ndlovu, who seized on Tozer’s error to score. 

Lee then equalised with a header from wing back Ryan Barnett’s cross. The visiting team were resolute.

This game will feature prominently on the second series of McElhenney and Reynolds’ documentary series.

And so will the new mural on the gable end wall of a terraced house in Crispin Lane, two minutes from the football ground. 

‘Welcome to Wrexham,’ it states, and two women walking their dogs in front of it on Friday evening bore testament to the way that the town has discovered itself again. 

‘Isn’t it wonderful?’ said one of them. ‘Other people coming in from outside and seen the positive side of our town. Who would have thought that?’

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