IT was more a comedy of errors than a football match, but there would have been few complaints from the 129 hardy Wrexham fans who trekked up to a bitterly-cold Hartlepool on Saturday to watch striker Juan Ugarte write himself into the club's record books.
No Racecourse player has ever scored five goals away from home.
Only two others, Archie Livingstone - who once hit seven in a game - and the legendary Tommy Bamford, both some 60 years ago, have ever matched the performance of the 24-year-old from San Sebastian.
Ugarte, rejected by Liverpool before coming to Wrexham last October, had just seven chances during the game, pulling one shot across the face of the United goal with another forcing possibly the save of the afternoon from Dimirios Konstantopoulos.
And now there seems little doubt that he will now become a target for other clubs ahead of the March 24 transfer deadline.
Whether the cash-strapped Dragons can hold on to arguably their best hope of avoiding relegation could depend on the outcome of tomorrow's LDV Vans Trophy clash against Oldham Athletic with the prize of a Millennium Stadium date at stake.
Clutching another match ball under his arm - his third of the season to date - Ugarte played down his match-winning performance, insisting that the result and the three points gained was what mattered most as the dust settled on a remarkable afternoon at Victoria Park.
United manager Neale Cooper, who saw his side take an early lead and then come from behind on no less than three occasions before self-destructing in the final few minutes, admitted he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"I'm shell-shocked, what can you make of that?" he said..
"It could have been 10 each because there was some very poor defending from both teams.
"Going forward we were exciting but Wrexham could easily have had 10 goals today. The centre of our defence was poor and we were sitting too deep.
"Having said that, they were very sharp today, especially Ugarte, and Chris Llewellyn is a good player too.
"They were clinical in front of goal, but at four each we thought we'd go on to win it.
"It was criminal what happened today and I felt sorry for my strikers because they were good and caused them a lot of problems."
There was no hint of the drama to come as Hartlepool - 5-1 winners at the Racecourse a few months ago - took the lead just four minutes into the game.
It came about when the appallingly inept referee Kevin Friend penalised Steve Roberts for a tackle on Joel Porter 18 yards from Ben Foster's goal.
Gavin Strachan, son of Gordon, lined up the ball and struck a low shot through the defensive wall to beat the keeper at his near post.
But within seven minutes the Dragons were level.
Llewellyn latched on to a poor defensive header from Michael Nelson to prod the ball forward and Ugarte lobbed Konstantopoulos from 12 yards on his way to a sensational 23-minute hat-trick.
Cooper's charges had their chances to restore the lead, Porter driving a fine effort through a crowded penalty area, but just wide and Foster denied Ritchie Humphreys with an excellent save low down to his right before Ugarte struck again on 21 minutes.
Carlos Edwards was brought down by Porter and when Darren Ferguson's free-kick was headed firmly back across the goal by Andy Holt, the little striker mis-kicked.
Fortunately the ball bounced up off his standing foot and his volley was too powerful for Konstantopoulos, who could only palm the shot into the top corner of the net.
United demonstrated just why they had previously lost just once at home, looking dangerous every time they went forward and only Shaun Pejic's persistence prevented Porter from restoring parity.
But the energetic midfielder made no mistake after 31 minutes, bursting through a static back line for an equal-iser that lasted for all of three minutes.
Back came Wrexham and Llewellyn, who won more than his fair share of headers in what was another outstanding contribution, was pushed in the back by Eifion Williams to earn the penalty which gave Ugarte the opportunity to notch his third treble since joining the Dragons in October.
No one doubted there were more goals to come but, amazingly, Wrexham kept their noses in front in the face of sustained pressure.
That was until the 62nd minute when United's leading marksman Adam Boyd slammed home a cross from substitute Matty Robson.
But the home side could not find the goal which might have signalled an end to the visitors' stubborn display, although Porter had an effort disallowed for offside.
And within six minutes Ugarte grabbed his fourth, confidently receiving an Edwards pass to turn and drive an angled shot beyond the Pool goalkeeper.
It was riveting stuff as Foster made another great save, turning John Brackstone's free-kick over the bar, before Ugarte set up Ferguson for what would have been a sitter had the ball not deflected off Wrexham teammate Mark Jones.
And the Dragons then had a stonewall penalty claim turned down in the 75th minute when Trinidadian Edwards, showing Nelson a clean pair of heels, was clearly tripped by the defender only for the match official to lecture both players when the ball ran out of play.
Two minutes later on the only occasion he got the better of Ugarte, Konstantopoulos kept Pool in the hunt and following an 83rd-minute goal-mouth scramble at the other end, Porter scored his second goal of the game to level it once more.
The home side sensed the prospect of victory but were punished for their adventure when Llewellyn broke away four minutes from time before setting up Jones for a simple finish in front of the visiting fans, who were treated to a grandstand finish.
Llewellyn somehow missed an open goal from six yards following more good work by Ugarte but he redeemed himself almost immediately, charging down Strachan's attempted clearance to pick out Ugarte, who snapped up the last-minute chance.
And shell-shocked United might have conceded a seventh goal in added time but for another excellent stop by their Greek goalkeeper which denied Llewellyn the goal his hard-working performance deserved.
HARTLEPOOL UNITED : Konstantopoulos; Brackstone, Barron (Daly 82), Clark (Robson 45), Nelson; Humphreys, Sweeney, Strachan, Williams; Porter, Boyd. Subs: Provett, Aplleby, Istead.
WREXHAM: Foster; Pejic, Roberts, Lawrence; Edwards, Jones (Green 87), Ferguson, Crowell, Holt; Llewellyn (Sam 90), Ugarte. BOOKED: Crowell, Jones.
REFEREE : Kevin Friend
ATT: 4,707.
* MAN OF THE MATCH... Juan Ugarte
* Llewellyn ran him close but Ugarte was in a class of his own
