Morrell hopes duo might return for Red Dragons

WREXHAM boss Andy Morrell is hoping top scorer Jake Speight will have recovered from a virus to face the Hatters in their play-off semi-final second leg at the Racecourse Ground on Monday, writes Mark Wood.

The 21-goal striker was missing for the first leg at Kenilworth Road on Thursday night where the Red Dragons were toasted 2-0 by the the Town, but Morrell is hopeful that both he and Glen Little will be available for the return fixture.

He said: “I hope so. Speighty has been ill for the last week and he’s just weak so hopefully will be right so we left him at home today.

“He’s played a lot of games this year and scored us a lot of goals. When he plays well he plays really well and he’s lively.

“Glen’s the same, his calf is a bit sore so we will just assess them and see.

“We need everybody fit and raring to go and it’s as simple as that.”

Despite trailing, Morrell is taking heart from the fact that his side beat Luton 2-0 in the regular season at the Racecourse back at the beginning of March.

He continued: “It’s got to give us massive belief because we beat them 2-0 at home in the league so why can’t we do it again. But if we show up like in the first half (on Thursday) it’s game over. That’s what we will be stressing over the next few days and hopefully we will be bang at it Monday.

“We’ve got to score two haven’t we. I would take two in the 89th-minute, that (scoring early) doesn’t matter. But that won’t be enough, that would be enough to take the tie into extra-time.

“We’ve got to score more than two against them and it’s going to be tough, really tough. We’ve put ourselves in a really difficult position again, but it’s not impossible.

“It’s better than it was last year (where Wrexham trailed 3-0 after the first leg). If we can play like we did in the second leg we have a chance. I believe in the lads, they really want it. It hurts to play like that in the first half, but hopefully we will be better.”

And he was hoping the home crowd would get behind his players like Wrexham’s travelling support did on Thursday night.

He added: “They were brilliant here singing all the way through. We brought a load of fans and hopefully they will come out in their droves and come and support us and try and get on our backs and help us get on to victory.”

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