Phil Parkinson was just as pleased with Paul Mullin’s all-round performance as he was with the striker’s hat-trick in Wrexham’s 6-0 League Two demolition of Morecambe.
Joel Senior’s own-goal and Mullin’s first strike put Wrexham two ahead early on. Jacob Mendy also struck before half-time, while Mullin scored twice after the break and James Jones completed the emphatic rout.
The win sees the Dragons return to the automatic promotion spots and bounce back from defeat at Accrington, with Mullin now on eight goals for the season.
Parkinson said: “He was good, I thought his all-round link play and his runs were really good. It was a really good display, getting a hat-trick.
“Goals are so important and key moments in games to take chances and the fourth goal really does kill the game off. But I’m just as pleased with his all-round performance.
“It’s a great response to losing last week and some fantastic goals and there were other opportunities in the game.
“We knew Morecambe have had some good results recently, they beat Lincoln in the cup and they’re a dangerous counter-attacking team. They’ve got some good quality, but I thought we dealt with that side of it well.
“But equally we knew they’re a team where if we pass the ball with quality, we could punish them and we did that.
“We took our chances and we were clinical, got off to a great start and it’s a good day’s work for us.”
Morecambe caretaker boss Ged Brannan – who has applied to be Derek Adams’ successor – admitted the heavy defeat left him feeling “physically sick” as he did not defend the Shrimps’ showing.
He said: “We had a gameplan, all week trained really well, told them how to manage the game and not to concede early doors, especially away against a team that’s been absolutely flying.
“The gameplan was quieten the crowd and then start playing, stay in the game – and we gave two goals away in six minutes. Game over.
“I’m not going to defend us today, we never tracked runners, we never marked in the box, we never won our headers, never won the first or second contacts.
“We never done anything right defensively. We had a lot of possession and nice one-twos around the pitch, but it’s done nothing for us. Nothing at all.
“I feel physically sick. I’ve applied for the job and that’s not going to help me at all. I feel really sick, but we’ve got to go again. We’ve got a big game on Tuesday so we’ve got to be positive.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
Vlahovic out of Juventus clash with Milan
Dusan Vlahovic will miss Juventus' trip to Milan in Serie A this weekend and is also a doubt for the Champions League game at Aston Villa, head coach Thiago Motta has confirmed.
Vlahovic returned from the international break with a muscle problem in his left thigh, and the manager, after he confirmed the Serbian's absence for Saturday's game at San Siro, was asked about his chances of playing on Wednesday at Villa Park.
"I don't know. He definitely won't be there tomorrow. We hope to have him back as soon as possible," Motta told a press conference on Friday.
"Injuries are part of football. Now it's Vlahovic's turn, but we'll keep playing with the same principles, attacking and defending together."
Vlahovic is the latest of Motta's injury problems at Juventus. Argentine winger Nicolas Gonzalez missed the last six league games and is still unavailable, while Poland striker Arkadiusz Milik is a long-term absentee.
Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz will also miss the game with Milan and defender Juan Cabal recently suffered an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury, the same issue which will keep fellow defender Gleison Bremer out for the rest of the season.
"I'm really disappointed for Cabal because, like Bremer, he'll be out for a long time," Motta said.
"This is another reason to push ourselves, to commit that bit more so that these absences don't weigh too heavily."
Juventus go into the game as the only unbeaten side in Serie A but find themselves sixth in the standings in what is so far a very tight title race, with just two points separating Motta's side from leaders Napoli.
"It's very balanced and this is good for both us and the public," Motta said.
"We must all try to continue like this. We have to try to get as many positive results as possible."
Milan are one place behind Juve but six points off Motta's side.
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