Morecambe's Mullin hailed ahead of trip to Newport

Morecambe boss Jim Bentley takes his players to Newport County tonight, looking to back up Saturday's 3-1 win at Crawley Town.
Paul Mullin scores his first of the afternoon at Crawley.Paul Mullin scores his first of the afternoon at Crawley.
Paul Mullin scores his first of the afternoon at Crawley.

The Shrimps head to Rodney Parade for a rearranged League Two game after December’s original meeting was postponed because of heavy rain with Newport 1-0 up.

One defeat in eight has lifted Bentley’s players to 15th in the table, a dozen points clear of the relegation places.

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Central to their recent revival has been the form of striker Paul Mullin.

The 22-year-old’s double in Saturday’s 3-1 victory at Crawley Town made it four goals from seven starts in 2017 after previously finding the net against Notts County and Leyton Orient.

That took him to eight goals for the season, two behind Cole Stockton, who had struck 10 before Christmas prior to his return to Tranmere Rovers.

The departures of loan pair Stockton and Jack Dunn, as well as injury to Rhys Turner, opened the door for the 22-year-old.

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He has responded in style with goals and a series of tireless displays, earning him a number of standing ovations from Shrimps supporters in recent weeks.

“It will give him a massive boost,” Bentley said of Mullin’s recent form.

“He scored against Notts County, had one or two half-chances at Carlisle United and got a great goal at Leyton Orient.

“He’s training well, he’s in decent form and I thought Leyton Orient was one of his best performances of the season.

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“He worked hard, got hold of the ball and showed good ability.

“Fair play to him though because he has been staying behind after training and doing extra work on his shooting as well as extra drills with Kenny (McKenna, assistant manager).

“He’s been going to Kenny and asking if he can do more work and that’s what hard work brings.

“That’s the type of person that he is but, to be fair, the squad are all like that.

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“They have a great togetherness, and when we had those couple of weeks without a game, they were doing extra work to keep themselves right.

“If you work hard in training then you will get your just rewards on the pitch and that’s what’s happened with Paul lately.”

Morecambe will again be without skipper Peter Murphy for tonight’s match as he sits out the second game of his three-match ban.

Newport are seven points adrift at the bottom of the table after Saturday’s loss at Cambridge United, their first defeat in seven matches.