Wrexham AFC: Phil Parkinson urged to make another big Paul Mullin call v Leyton Orient | OneFootball

Jack Marriott was dropped for Paul Mullin last weekend despite the former's excellent start to the season.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Wrexham AFC made it five wins from their opening seven League One matches last weekend, as they beat Crawley Town 2-1 at the Stōk Cae Ras.

The victory ensured that the Red Dragons stayed at the top of the table, level on points with unbeaten Birmingham City, but with a very slightly better goal difference.

Blues do have a game in hand on Phil Parkinson's side, but it is the Welsh club who lead the way early as the table starts to take shape.

Saturday's win over Crawley was Wrexham's narrowest margin of victory since the first game of the season, and their forward line had to thank those further behind them for the goals that handed them all three points. Elliot Lee and Max Cleworth found the back of the net either side of Armando Junior Quitirna's equaliser, but he could have easily levelled the game in the first half.

The match also saw the reintroduction of Paul Mullin into the starting XI following back surgery in June, taking the place of the in form Jack Marriott, a move that seemed quite harsh.

Jack Marriott should return against Leyton Orient

Although Mullin has been superb since making the switch to Wrexham in 2021, and has comfortably been the club's top scorer since then, finding the back of the net 101 times in 139 matches. However, he is yet to find his feet after his surgery.

Marriott, on the other hand, is fit and firing, and it can be said that the decision to drop the former Derby County striker in this form was a bit of an odd one.

The 31-year-old scored four goals in six League One games before the Crawley clash, his best start to a campaign since the 2017/18 season when he played for Peterborough United.

Football League World's Wrexham Fan Pundit, Liam Grice, believes that Parkinson should re-introduce Marriott back into the starting XI against Leyton Orient.

"Given our start to the season, there has been a debate about whether the starting striker alongside Ollie Palmer should be Paul Mullin or Jack Marriott," he said.

"Marriott has obviously started the first few games of the season, played really well, and then Mullin came back in last weekend and maybe didn't perform at the level we expect of him."

"I think you just can't drop him when he's in that kind of form. Mullin is still building up his fitness, and it was deemed quite harsh to drop him last week and, given Mullin didn't impress, I expect Marriott to come back into the side."

Parkinson was wrong to drop Marriott

Despite the good that Parkinson has done since he took the job at Wrexham, this was a decision that did not seem to pay off, and he must reverse it on Saturday.

Mullin has had to be managed carefully since his return, and is still not at 100% fitness, whereas Marriott is looking extremely sharp and has started to form a great partnership with Ollie Palmer.

The 31-year-old struggled to adapt to the team last season when he first arrived, but has quickly put any fears of that reoccurring to bed. In the last few years, he looked like he had lost his scoring touch, but he has slowly started to look more and more like the Marriott that tore League One apart seven years ago.

Mullin is a fantastic option off the bench, and if his teammate's form starts to drop, he will be there to replace him, but this must not be rushed for the sake of the 29-year-old's fitness, and for the sake of the team itself.