Post Match: Morrell Focused On The Team Effort

Wrexham’s ever-green player-manger Andy Morrell was in high spirits after his side ruthlessly exposed their opponents’, Rushall Olympic, hapless capitulation late in the second half. Despite the thumping nature of the victory, the 38-year old was keen to praise the lower league opposition’s tenacity at the Racecourse on Saturday afternoon.

“I’m pleased with the result, they (Rushall) made it difficult for us in the first half. We could’ve gone one-nil up really early on and put it to bed, but, credit to them, they made it really difficult for us, but by the end we were worthy winners.”

“The final scoreline was probably a bit harsh, but I thought we were a threat every time we went forward. We were a little bit too open for my liking, they had a few too many shots in the first half but we blocked nearly every one of them – Joslain (Maybei) didn’t really have a save to make. There were no real threats on goal and our quality came through in the end.”

Morrell conceded that, despite his early double salvo, it was the sending off of Rushall Olympic’s Hakeem Islam on the hour mark which changed the complexion of the contest.

“I thought it was a foolish second tackle and he didn’t really need to do it. It killed them and allowed us to play our stuff. They were fairly lively up front and they put themselves about, got stuck in and made it tough for us, which is exactly what you expect from a team in the lower division.”

Morrell was quick to deflect attention from his own scoring feats, preferring to praise that have been shared out amongst his strike-force in the past week.

“It was good to see Cieslewicz on the scoresheet again, that’s two goals in two games for him now. We’ve got six strikers now who’ve all scored in the last week. We’ve worked out that 18 out of 22 outfield players have scored this season, so there are goals coming from everywhere, but more importantly it’s the strikers who are scoring.”

When questioned on the potential distractions of a cup-run against the priority of gaining promotion back to the Football League, the Wrexham player-manager preferred to view the FA Trophy as a help, rather than a hindrance, to rotate his abundance of attacking talent.

“We had three good strikers out there, I made a couple of changes today but I don’t think we were any weaker. The lads who are not playing at the minute can do equally if not better a job than the lads who are in the team. I thought we were fairly fair to the competition and played a decent enough team.”

“Stevenage won the Trophy when they went up, as did York last year, so it can be a help. If we do switch things round I don’t think it makes the team any weaker.”

Attention now switches back to the Blue Square Premier, with Wrexham facing a period of three games in a week from the beginning of next month. With the side back to winning ways, looking prolific in attack and miserly in defence, Morrell is eager to build on this momentum.

“We’ve got three tough games coming up now, two tough away trips to Kidderminster and Alfreton then Nuneaton at home. We’re looking forward to it – we’ve got a little bit of momentum now with two wins and a draw in the last three games. The lads are raring to go and hopefully we’ll have a good week’s training.”

“It’s only Rob (Ogleby) who hasn’t scored this week but I thought he played really well today and created a couple. I’m pleased to be among the goals, it’s always nice to score a few and keep it ticking over. Now whoever plays the next game will be bang in form.”

“I’ve got plenty of decisions to make up front but these are good options to have. I’d rather have everybody scoring than just one of us. I’ve always wanted six strikers, and I’ve now got six good strikers. They’re going great.”

“It’s been a while since our last clean sheet so hopefully that will breed a bit of confidence. Like I said a few too many shots in the first half which we blocked, but apart from that I thought we were fairly comfortable.”

Morrell went on to reveal that this weekend’s hat-trick was his first in five years, which came during a game where a certain Joe Hart was his team-mate in goal, “It was against Swansea on the final day of the 2006-7 promotion season with Blackpool from League One to the Championship; I scored four. My last Wrexham hat-trick, though, was during the promotion season in 02-03, away at Carlisle in a 5-0 win and I nicked one off Brian Carey.”