Relief for Mullins as he scores at the right end

The centre half came within inches of putting the Shrimps ahead net early in the second half for what would have been a third own goal of the season, following Port Vale and Crewe.

However, keeper Marek Stech was on hand to pull off a great save and divert his deflection away from the bottom corner, with Mullins then arriving on cue at the other end shortly afterwards to head home Olly Lee’s free kick.

Speaking about his second goal of the season, Mullins said: “There was one (free kick) in the first half when Olly put a great ball in and I was on my heels a little bit.

“Joaquin (Gomez, first team coach) has been on at me about just getting across people.

“I made the run, he’s put it on sixpence and all I’ve got to do is get my big head on it and thankfully it went in.

“There’s not many better feelings in football, so it was very nice to get one.”

It could have been all so different had Stech not made the earlier stop though, as Mullins continued: “Stechy did pull off a couple of great saves.

“There was one that came off my shin and the world stopped. He pulled out that big arm and that would have been my third own goal.

“It was a really nice day, to win 1-0 and keep a clean sheet was great.”

Mullins’ goal came at a moment in the game when Morecambe were starting to gain the ascendancy, so the defender knew it was a timely, adding: “I thought first half we were the better side, second half they came out, made it more difficult.

“They were a little bit more direct and they were getting on top, but thankfully the goal came at the perfect time and we managed to hold out and get the victory.”