There’s roughly a week of the transfer window left, and Wrexham’s fans want a striker.

I get that. I want a striker. Phil Parkinson wants a striker. I don’t feel quite as urgent to see one arrive as most people seem to be though.

Call me an optimist if you must – there are far worse things to be called, after all – but I’d like to think we have the options in the squad to see us through the season if needs be.

Circumstances haven’t been kind to our forwards this season, and I accept that if we were able to attract a player who can make a difference up front, I’d want to see the deal done.

However, I really don’t want to see Parkinson abandoning his principles and buying for the sake of it. I can’t imagine he would, and although there’s a strong argument to suggest that this is a glorious opportunity to get into the Championship so we should twist rather than stick, there’d be no point in bringing someone in unless they really are going to make a material difference to the options at Parkinson’s disposal.

We haven’t scored with the frequency we’d like this season, but we’ve done alright. I mean, we are third in the table! Still, I accept that most of our strikers would like to have more goals against their names at this point of the campaign.

I feel our existing strikers are capable of providing more goals for us in the second part of the season, though. For a start, Jack Marriott started the season superbly, and hopefully he’ll be able to hit the ground running now he’s back in the squad after injury.

Likewise, Steven Fletcher starting at Shrewsbury, and completing the whole match after Parkinson had suggested he felt Fletcher’s knee problem appeared to have responded to the operation he had before Christmas, is profoundly encouraging. He has been deadly in front of goal, and if he can be considered a potential starter, probably in rotation, he will be a real asset.

Mo Faal continues to show signs of development, having put in a couple of nice cameos off the bench in recent home games, while Ollie Palmer seems to attract massively divergent opinions. Numerous times this season he’s come off to a standing ovation after a performance at the SToK Cae Ras which married attacking aggression with wholehearted work rate on and off the ball. However, people want more goals from him – and clearly so does he! Still, his performances see him in credit this season in my opinion.

The main focus of attention has been Paul Mullin, though. I have to admit that while I understand the concerns his lack of goals have encouraged,

After all, there is a good reason why he’s not been at his best this season: a pre-season operation meant he was playing catch-up the moment he returned to the squad.

Why panic? Mullin’s circumstances last season were remarkably similar, after all, and ultimately he bounced back. He missed pre-season after that horrible injury against Manchester United, when he suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung.

He naturally didn’t look himself when he came back, but persevered and, crucially, was able to keep chipping in with goals while he made a very public recovery. He finally looked fully recovered in the run-in, scoring 14 goals in the last 13 games of the season

It’s tougher this season, because he’s trying to do it again after missing two consecutive pre-seasons. That has to take a lot out of him.

Just because we’re in a higher division doesn’t mean he’s stepped up above his natural level, as some suggest. That’s lazy thinking, for a number of reasons. Firstly, scoring 24 goals in 34 league starts last season, despite the extenuating circumstances I mentioned earlier, doesn’t imply to me that he was being stretched at the top end of his comfort zone. Why should a player who has just made such an impact suddenly find promotion makes him impotent?

Anyway, Mullin’s problem has been that he’s been missing chances. While that’s obviously not a good thing, it’s not the worst thing. In terms of being able to play at a higher level, I’d be much more concerned if he was anonymous. That would suggest he hadn’t coped with the step up.

Mullin, though, has been consistently getting into good positions, but hasn’t taken those chances. Clearly, nobody is happy with that, but it doesn’t suggest the games are passing him by.

He’s been getting the better of defences but lacking the part of his game which is normally his strength. That’s not a sign of decline or limitation: it suggests he’s currently not able to execute a key skill. Logic suggests that the goals will come, that he’ll inevitably correct the fault. Basic statistical theory suggests that the more he gets into those positions, the more likely it is that he’ll start scoring, given his previous record.

Usually the phrase “reverting to the mean” is used to refer to teams dropping back down the table after a bout of over-performance, but in this case it signifies the opposite: Mullin will return to his normal standards and the goals will flow again.

Players have quiet seasons, for a variety of reasons. If Mullin isn’t able to rediscover his scoring touch this season, there’s no reason why, having recharged his batteries and had a proper pre-season, he shouldn’t come back all guns blazing next time round.

Take the example of Dixie McNeil. A bona fide goalscoring legend, he played his first season in Division Two for us after scoring 25 goals in 33 games in 1977-78. At the higher level, he managed just 4 goals in 31 league appearances. Obviously, he’d exceeded the level he was comfortable in. Except he hadn’t. He managed over 20 in each of the next 2 seasons, then got into double figures in the season we were relegated from the second tier. Everyone’s allowed a quiet season, so let’s lay off Mullin and let him get his groove back, eh?

Like I said, I’d always welcome players who will improve our squad, but there’s more firepower at Parkinson’s disposal than most seem to think.