Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Ollie Palmer, eh? Who’d have thought it? Of all the opening week heroes, Palmer didn’t seem to be a likely candidate, but didn’t he deliver the perfect reminder of why he’s already earned a place in the Wrexham hall of legends.

All the talk has been of new signings, and having to cull the squad in order to register all the exciting talent which has arrived over the last month or so.

Frankly, Palmer has been seen as a likely victim of the purge. The arrival of Kieffer Moore, a magnificent target man who will obviously be crucial to our plans once he regains fitness, just seemed to confirm that impression.

Once again, Palmer hit the ground running at the start of pre-season, having clearly worked hard to make sure he was in peak shape to take on the challenge. He did well down under, but there was always the awareness in the background that there was bound to be heavy recruitment in attack.

Moore’s debut at Southampton on Saturday might have been cruelly curtailed, but an hour was enough to appreciate the level of quality he brings to the role. His hold-up play was exemplary, he bullied one of England’s top young centre backs in Ronnie Edwards, and won a penalty with a combination of a perfectly-timed run and cunning game awareness when Edwards came barrelling up behind him in the box.

He’s class, and it’s extremely difficult to see how he and Palmer could gel together up front. Surely, everyone reckoned, something has to give.

Palmer, back in the number 35 shirt he wore when he arrived mid-season four years ago as Moore has taken the 9, started on the bench against Hull, and you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t feel sentimental seeing him on the team sheet.

Would it be the last time he was named in a squad by Phil Parkinson? It certainly seemed more than possible.

Parkinson, like any good manager, will reward a player for rising to a challenge though, and Palmer certainly did that.

Rarely has a player made such a ludicrous intervention in a match, completely changing its complexion, like Palmer did.

It all looked over, Hull were 3-1 up as injury time began and we just couldn’t get any momentum going. Indeed, we couldn’t get the ball off them either: Sergej Jakirovic’s side had shown in a ten-minute spell after their opening goal that they were technically adept, and able to control the tempo of the game by retaining possession. When they started doing it again in the last ten minutes of the match, they drained all the hope out of the crowd. Fans saw the writing on the wall and started heading home early.

Palmer, for his part, was battling gamely, but there was as little sign that he’d turn into the hero as there was that Wrexham could mount a comeback.

He’d had a couple of promising moments, but both fizzled out, as he pinged a return pass to Josh Windass too quickly, then got the ball stuck under his feet as he tried to hold it up on the edge of the box.

However, he was up against Charlie Hughes, a superb centre back who has just attracted a £7 million bid from Coventry. Hull turned it down too: they might be strapped for cash, but they know the real value of a player who looked like a Rolls Royce at the back throughout.

But then, everything changed, and Palmer completely transformed the game in a manner which few will ever experience.

It was Ollie Time!

His first goal was a fabulous header. Take a look back at it and appreciate how the ball seems to arrive too high for him to properly control his header, yet he stretches and somehow diverts James McClean’s fizzing delivery inside the post.

A cursory wave to the fans was all he offered, because he knew there was still work to do. He got straight down to it too: 69 seconds later he was offered another sumptuous cross to attack, this time from Ryan Barnett, and didn’t need a second invitation.

When it came to the penalty shoot-out, Palmer was front and centre yet again. A beautifully delivered spot-kick ripped into the bottom corner, to be followed by a typically photogenic moment as Palmer stood, heroic, and posed for his people behind the goal. A Greek God. A statuesque figure. Secure in the knowledge that he is adored.

Only Juan Ugarte has come off the bench to score for Wrexham, and then score in a subsequent shoot-out. But the achievement was greater than the statistic. It was a moment, and we were all allowed to share in it by this mighty force of nature in a red shirt.

So what now? There’s no definitive news on Moore’s injury, but it doesn’t look likely to be something he’ll be able to walk off. Has Palmer earned a last shot at redemption with his ludicrous heroics? He’s never played in The Championship; indeed, last season was only the third he’s spent in the third tier, in a career which stretches back to 2010. The twenty-five games he started last season was comfortably the most he’s managed at that level.

But last night was special. Could it be the beginning of a remarkable, unexpected continuation of an already storied Wrexham career?

That’s up to Parkinson. As the cliché goes, it’s a nice problem to have.