Here’s my column from last week’s Leader. It forms part of the paper’s comprehensive pre-match coverage every Friday, featuring interviews, an in-depth look at the opposition and lots of statistical analysis. All content in the column (c) www.leaderlive.co.uk.

Hopefully  the return of Dean Keates on Tuesday marked a watershed moment in our season: the improvement in our performance certainly made it feel like one. The absence of Wrexham’s experienced spine has hit us hard this season.

Making excuses when things go wrong doesn’t tend to earn you much sympathy. When managers bleat on “Match of the Day” about how the result would have been different if the ref had favoured them, it’s not the most attractive spectacle.

Despite our problems this season, Andy Morrell has wisely refused to hide behind excuses. But  it’s unrealistic to examine our campaign without taking into account the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that he’s suffered.

It’s no great shock we’ve struggled when you consider how much upheaval there has been around the squad. Players have left, and injuries have been a constant issue.

When we won the FA Trophy we had something close to a full strength team, but only two of that side played at Salisbury on Saturday. That’s a heck of a big turnover of players, but it’s not as if all those players have moved on to new clubs.

Injuries have haunted Morrell, and although the focus has understandably been on the lack of a consistent back four, that’s not the only problem area. Our midfield has also been decimated by injury. Throw in the loss of form of a couple of players and Morrell has a real headache.

Then we consider the invidious effect Jay Harris’ suspensions have had on the team. The fiery Scouser is crucial to the team and his absence has been keenly felt. He’s missed four games and we’ve lost all four of them. At least we showed on Saturday that we can put in a reasonable performance without him, as the previous three losses were very poor efforts, lending credence to the notion that Harris personifies the fire in the belly of the side.

To put the difference he makes to the side into context, taking the average number of points we’ve won in games he’s played in this season and assuming we’d have got the same results in those four games would put us three points off the play-offs, ahead of big spending Forest Green Rovers in the table!

All this uncertainty means Morrell hasn’t been able to put out the eleven he’d have liked to. Consider the following eleven:

Mayebi;

Wright, Ntame, Creighton, Tomassen;

Thornton, Keates, Harris;

Cieslewicz, Bishop, Reid.

A pretty decent side, apart from the fact that I’ve had to force Steve Tomassen in on the wrong side of the back four. But what does do those players have in common? None of them started last Saturday. Okay, some of them were omitted by the manager, but don’t tell me that having Wright, Creighton, Keates and Thornton fit and ready for action wouldn’t massively strengthen Morrell’s hand.

That’s why seeing Keates get through ninety minutes was uplifting. Now let’s see if we can get some of the others back.