Paul Mullin has been full of praise for the U’s complete team performance against Morecambe on Saturday, but feels it only stands as a marker for what they must continue to deliver going forward.
The striker has no doubts that he is the rightful owner of Saturday’s match ball, despite his first stunning effort of three being awarded as an own goal by official channels.
He said: “It’s a hat-trick! At the end of the day it’s hit the post and gone into the net, and how else would it have gone into the net if I hadn’t have hit it. So it was three goals, I grabbed the match ball and I’m made up.
“To be honest it was more important we go away with the three points, so obviously I’ll claim the goal and the hat-trick but we can all keep going now and keep moving forward.
“To go on a long one away from home, and come away with five goals and a clean sheet, it’s brilliant. It’s a shame there is no fans here to enjoy it but it’s great to come away with the win.”
Having now scored goals in both of United’s League Two fixtures in 2020/21 and netted in the EFL Trophy, the 25-year old is brimming with confidence and feels vindicated in his decision to extend his stay with the U’s this summer.
“That was the main reason I signed here again, I felt last season I was just about to go on a goal scoring run and I’d really enjoyed my time here with Bonz (Mark Bonner) and the lads were great.
“To go come straight back in, where it’s not felt like I’ve moved away from home or anything like that, that’s helped me to start well.
“Looking at today and the results before that, there’s no reason we can’t do well if we continue to stick together and work as hard as we have.”
Mullin modestly credits the recruitment and coaching work ahead of the season as well as the labour of his team mates around him, whose creativity he says is pivotal in his early streak of hot form since the new campaign got underway.
“Through pre-season we have worked a lot on our attacking play, and creating lots of different outlets and varying routes to goal for us. Today we have certainly managed to show quite a lot of those, and on other days it’s probably not going to be quite as beautiful as that.
“But with the work we’ve done, hopefully we can continue to dig the goals out and today some of the goals were magnificent.
“Credit should also go to the recruitment team at the Club, because me and Joe (Ironside) seem to complement each other really well. We’re working hard in training together and we’re great mates off the pitch too. He really has been brilliant for me since he’s come into the Club.
“Today it was my turn to get the goals, but next week I’d be equally as pleased if it was him because he’d really deserve it. We work as a two, and it’s the same when the other lads come on. We work hard, and that’s the team for you.”