LET'S hear it for Ollie Palmer. With all these exciting new signings that have been coming in over the last couple of seasons, it’s good to see that old warhorse is still indispensable.

He ended a scoreless run of 13 games last Saturday, which may well have been on his mind: certainly, the chattering classes were fixated on his barren spell.

I think that’s missing the point though. Palmer is most valuable to the team for other qualities; while he obviously wants to keep contributing with goals, we should measure him by his overall contribution, not just one element of it.

First of all, it’s not unusual for a target man to be less prolific than other types of attacking players. Throughout modern football there are lots of examples of strikers fulfilling that role who trade in some of their penalty area presence for a key role in the build-up.

The sight of a big striker attacking a good cross is thrilling.

I grew up enjoying Jim Steel doing exactly that in the 1980s, most notably against Porto in perhaps the greatest ever result in Wrexham’s history.

I have a clear recollection of the visceral thrill of such muscular forward play. I was near the front of the Kop, which was unusual as normally I’d be further back, and the sight of Steel rearing up right in front of me to plant home a header was a thrill.

I have a vague sense that Paul Comstive crossed it in, but I’m really not sure. I can’t remember which game it was, but it’s lodged in my memory. It wasn’t a significant moment, but a physical response to such thrilling forward play.

Going back even further, patterns of play revolved around getting the ball to the wingers, who would loft it into the goalmouth for centre forwards to attack.

Attack is the key word here, as the rules were different: they were allowed to smash into the goalkeeper, and the goal would be theirs even if they didn’t touch the ball, as long as it ended up in the net.

Dixie Dean famously set the top flight record with 60 goals in a season by exploiting that rule to the full: he didn’t actually touch the ball in the act of scoring many of his goals that season!

Crossing it in for the big lad is still a legitimate tactic, of course. We all got a thrill from Palmer heading home Ryan Barnett’s pinpoint cross last Saturday, didn’t we? Barnett laid on a couple of headed chances for Palmer on Tuesday too, proving the point.

However, football has changed, and such an approach is no longer a priority. There is more than one way to skin a bus, when it’s parking in front of the opposing goal.

Steel was good with his feet; his set-up play for John Muldoon in the build-up to that famous goal against Porto illustrates that.

However, Palmer is tasked with a lot more of that sort of play, dropping deep to link up with players running beyond him or flicking the ball on. He’ll drift to the left to create space inside, and often fall off into a deep position to drive at a defence or pull defenders out of their shape.

It’s his all-round game which has made him invaluable for us this season, and that’s not just in the opposition half.

A couple of times this season, last Tuesday being the most recent, he has played the full 90 minutes because his value when we defend set pieces is terrific.

Indeed, in the Lincoln game he made a crucial headed clearance off the line in the closing minutes.

He works terrifically hard in his own half; his outstanding performance against Mansfield earlier this month was adorned by his remarkable work rate, constantly tracking back into his own half to go over and above in pursuit of victory.

Palmer’s form has meant Sam Dalby went on loan to Dundee United, where he has clearly been enjoying himself at Scottish Premiership defenders’ expense.

For Phil Parkinson to be forced into loaning such a good prospect out is a real indication of how well Palmer is playing.

The data on Palmer’s performances this season illustrate his quality nicely. Firstly, although he’d want to have more than three goals to his credit, he’s actually out-performing his non-penalty Xg of 2.16.

Furthermore, as per Fotmob, he’s in the 98th percentile for winning headers when compared to similar players, and the 95th percentile when it comes to successful defensive actions. He’s also in the 88th percentile for touches per game, which shows how involved he is in our build-up play.

Steel was my favourite player as a teenager, and Palmer’s contribution to Wrexham means he can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him. I don’t say that lightly.

There were plenty of nay-sayers who claimed Palmer’s limit was League Two, and this season would see him phased out of the first team.

Eyebrows were raised when, after a few weeks of monitoring Palmer’s performances this season, Parkinson handed him a contract extension.

As usual, Parkinson knew best.