Goalkeeper Hunting Morrell Praises ‘Unbelievable’ Mayebi

Joslain Mayebi looks set to miss the rest of the season after picking up a ruptured achilles during Wrexham’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Southport on Tuesday night in the Blue Square Premier. After the match player-manager Andy Morrell looked traumatised by the news, which leaves him with a race against time to bring in a new goalkeeper before the transfer window slams shut on Thursday evening.

‘I think Jossy’s out for 8 months so that hurts us and we’ve got bigger issues. Sloppy defending by us makes Ashy (Neil Ashton) rush a back pass, Jossy’s taken a great touch and then as he’s gone to push off he’s ruptured his achilles. He’s done well to clear it and unbelievable to stay on the pitch. It maybe my fault we didn’t have a ‘keeper on the bench, but you win some you lose some.’

‘We have a contingency that if a ‘keeper does get sent off or injured then Jay Harris would go in goal, but that would’ve taken out the heart of the midfield. They didn’t really have a shot in the second half, so it was just the threat of a corner or free kick.’

‘We’ll go hunting and see what’s out there. That was one position I thought we were alright with – it’s amazing football, it’s a great game.’

‘We’ve got a little bit of money to bring in. I was looking to bring in a striker, but might have to use that elsewhere now. Andy’s done great for us as a young lad but to ask him to play the rest of the season for us in goal is a big ask. We’ve got to bring somebody in, use our network and connections. I’m going to be a busy man tomorrow.’

‘It was my decision not to pick a ‘keeper on the bench. Has it haunted me? Probably a bit today, but I’ve got away with it pretty much all the time I’ve been in management.’

On the match itself, in which goals from Danny Wright and Joe Clarke had twice gifted Wrexham the lead, Morrell looked visibily frustrated by his side’s ongoing shortcomings in defence, which have seen them fail to keep a clean sheet in the league at the Racecourse since the 25th September.

‘We created a ridiculous amount of chances and just weren’t clinical enough to take them. Their ‘keeper had an alright game and they defended for their lives. We’ve not kept a clean sheet here for a long time, you’re not going to go up if you’re not keeping clean sheets so we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’re conceding goals and we look a little lightweight. We’re scoring goals, we’re creating chances but when you don’t take them it always comes back to haunt you, as it has tonight.’

‘We should have taken 3 points tonight. If we’ve got to score 3 goals to win every game then we’re not going to get promoted, simple as that.’

Wrexham had struck in just the 6th minute through Danny Wright’s 12th goal of the season, but the lead lasted barely 6 minutes due to a catalogue of individual defensive errors – namely through Danny Alfei and Martin Riley.

‘I said before the game not to play balls inside on that pitch because it could get cut out and it’s difficult to control on a pitch like that. That was a mistake but then Riles cleared the cross straight into their path, rather than out for a throw or a corner. We seem to make mistake, mistake, mistake and it ends up in our net. Like I said we’ve got some work to do.’

‘We should’ve been able to see the game out. They’ve not had one shot on our goal in the second half, bar the goal. We’re not a million miles away by any stretch of the imagination, we’re still in the hunt.’

Having missed the opportunity to leapfrog Grimsby Town to the summit of the league, the Dragons now face a testing trip to 4th placed Forest Green Rovers on Saturday, one which Morrell is looking forward to.

‘I don’t think there’s a better game to have than to go somewhere like that; fantastic pitch, fantastic facilitiy, playing one of the teams pushing for that top spot. We’ll go there and try and keep our unbeaten run going.’

Whether Morrell will be handing a debut to a new goalkeeper on Saturday, the next 48 hours will decide.