It’s the inevitable fate of any valued football player that their many significant acts and years of excellence will be reduced down to a handful of highlights. Such a reductive view of Del Morgan’s contribution to Wrexham AFC barely scratches the surface, but there is an element of consolation: her highlight is about as magnificent as they get.

Morgan has announced that she will call time on her playing career at the end of the season, having given magnificent service to the club.

Her commitments as a goalkeeper coach at Liverpool have occasionally meant that she has been unavailable for Wrexham matches, and she has done well to juggle those duties, but sadly she has had to make the difficult choice between the two.

Unlike most players, she can leave her playing career behind knowing she has been instrumental in her club’s greatest achievement.

Were it not for Morgan, the historic achievements of the last couple of seasons simply might not have happened. She has given us such marvellous service, and enjoyed so many fine performances, but that play-off against Briton Ferry stands alone. Few goalkeepers get to call time on their career with such a brilliant, barrier-breaking ninety minutes under their belts.

It’s not easy to get into the Adran Premier. If you win your second tier championship, there’s still a play-off to negotiate before you can lay claim to one of the precious eight places in the top division.

Morgan had been a key factor in the Adran North-winning campaign and led us into the play-off against Adran South champions Briton Ferry wearing the captain’s armband in the absence of Kim Dutton. She certainly played a captain’s innings.

Briton Ferry had also enjoyed an outstanding season, and their style was as uncompromising then as it is now.

They play to their strengths and play a direct game, looking to scrap for second balls and bombarding opposition defences with long balls. If your goalkeeper can’t step up to the mark and take responsibility, they’ll punish you.

Morgan was more than up to the task.

Her handling was impeccable, and she constantly relieved the pressure on her defence by committing to attacking long balls into the box. It was brave, decisive keeping, yet her most important contributions were still to come. A sharp save in the first half ensured we went into the break goalless.

We led going into the closing stages of the match after a terrific run and cross by Rosie Hughes was finished in typical fashion by Rebecca Pritchard, cleverly running across the goal to arrive unmarked at the near post and touch the ball deftly past the goalkeeper.

Briton Ferry’s combative style had prevented us from getting our passing rhythm going, though, and we had to withstand the inevitable late onslaught as the South Walians desperately sought the equaliser.

With three minutes left, Morgan found herself exposed to a one-on-one. Her response was straight out of the textbook: she stood up, forced the striker to try to hit the corner to score past her and pulled off a superb save, getting her right foot to the ball and deflecting it behind for a corner.

When the flag kick was deflected towards goal she managed to repel it, with the aid of Phoebe Davies, and the ball was cleared.

Her work was not done yet though. Three minutes were added on but play continued and Ferry earned a free kick on the edge of the box in the fifth additional minute. It was struck cleanly, wall-side, but Morgan scrambled across, leapt and made a tremendous save, tipping the ball onto the bar.

Davies was on hand again to make the clearance and, moments later, the final whistle blew. The celebrations were joyous, with Morgan at their heart, dancing in front of her team mates with Dutton, holding the play-off trophy aloft.

It was appropriate that Morgan and Davies ultimately combined to ensure our first promotion to the top tier of Welsh football, as they have both been magnificent for the club over the years.

The outstanding performances of Lizzie Craven this season have, perhaps, made it easier for Morgan to take this tough decision, knowing the goalkeeping role is in safe hands.

Craven’s development this season has been incredibly impressive, aided no doubt by the high quality of the people she gets to work with. Goalkeeping coach Dave Williams and Morgan have a terrific amount of experience, technical, tactical and temperamental, to pass on to her and Chloe Ankers, our talented youth keeper.

Craven’s development is such that, alongside Cardiff City’s Ceryn Chamberlain, she is clearly on a higher level than the rest of the Adran Premier’s keepers. Again, Morgan’s contribution to the club goes beyond what she has achieved on the pitch.

So we bid farewell to Morgan, knowing that she played a massive part in our greatest moment, but also knowing, selfless as she is, that she’ll be hoping we surpass that achievement by winning the Welsh Cup final at the end of this month.

It will be the final match of her career and, regardless of whether she starts or not, she will want what’s best for the club and deservedly share in our success. That’s what makes a great servant to a football club, and that’s why we’ll miss her.