WREXHAM supporters will be pinning their hopes on new signings Adi Yussuf and Kwame Thomas answering all their goalscoring prayers when the new National League season finally kicks off next month.

Football fans love seeing their side score goals galore - something that Wrexham have failed miserably to do of late - but will that all change?

Will the expectation again turn to frustration or can the Reds’ new strikeforce write themselves into the history books alongside the goalscoring greats of the past?

Every fan will come up with different pairs of perfect partners who they will claim were Wrexham’s best-ever.

Billy Ashcroft and David Smallman hit it off in the short time they pulled on the proper shirts strikers wore in those days - numbers nine and ten.

Dixie McNeil and Graham Whittle worked wonders in the sensational 1977/78 season while Gary Bennett and local lad Steve Watkin were outstanding in the 1992/93 promotion campaign.

Completing the promotion trilogy - and the last time Wrexham were on the up - was 2002/03 when Andy Morrell and Lee Trundle fired the Reds to glory under Denis Smith.

Morrell was magnificent that season while Trundle was his trick-a-minute self, bamboozling defenders and fans alike with his repertoire.

Morrell, who is now manager of Hednesford Town, remembers that season and in particular the late and legendary Leader photographer Les Evans’ picture of his diving header against Rushden and Diamonds.

“Les loved that picture and so do I,” said Morrell.

“It was a season where everything just fell into place. We didn’t have a big squad but we had players who knew how to play the system Denis Smith wanted to.

“Attacking wing-backs, solid centre halves and experienced goalkeeper in Andy Dibble.

“The two in the middle of the park, Jim Whitley - the ball-winner - and Darren Ferguson with that magic left foot of his.”

But it was up top where Wrexham really flourished.

Morrell missed one league game that season but scored 34 in the other 45 to make him the leading goalscorer in the top four divisions. Not bad considering he’d only netted two the season before!

That made Morrell a wanted man. That goal return would have made him worth around half-a-million pound. But he left for nothing, Coventry City’s Gary McAllister snapping him up on a free transfer.

“You know what, I was never offered a contract to stay on that season,” revealed Morrell. “If I’d have been offered something, I think I could have stayed. I was enjoying my football so much.

“It was great playing with Trunds. I think I scored 39 goals in all competitions that season and Trunds set up half of them. He was a funny lad. Typical Scouser and just the kind of character you want in the dressing room.

“Some of the things he could do with a ball, too. He was almost telepathic that season. I’d make a run and he’d find me with a precision pass.

“He was a brilliant player and he went on to have a brilliant career.”

Trundle was also out of contract that summer and left on a free, teaming-up with the man who had brought him to Wrexham, Brian Flynn.

Flynn was now boss at Swansea. He knew what Trundle was on at The Racecourse, fetched him to The Vetch and then cashed in as the ex-Rhyl striker moved on for £1m to Bristol City four years later.

That means Wrexham missed out on a potentially life-saving £1.5m. A year later they were put into administration.

Morrell would be back, proving just as good a player-manager, taking Wrexham so close to a return to the promised land of the Football League on two occasions as well as a first ever trip to Wembley where he celebrated in style as The Reds lifted the FA Trophy.

That Wembley win came 15 years after Morrell was first given his chance in professional football when Flynn signed him on following a tip-off from journalist Rob McCaffrey.

Patience was certainly one of Morrell’s many values as he tried to make a name for himself at Wrexham.

“I was working in a gym at the time and thought it would be an easy transition,” added Morrell.

“But I soon realised what a big step up it was. There was so much I had to learn and thankfully I had the likes of Flynnie, Kevin Reeves and Joey Jones giving me all the advice I needed.

“Then Ian Rush joined and he was coaching me. Rushie, coaching me?!

“After all the goals he’d scored in his career, I couldn’t believe he never managed to score one for Wrexham. He never missed one in training!

“I remember the advice he gave me too, saying that if I wanted to score more, I’d have to stop running around so much.”

Morrell admits he wasn’t first choice, claiming it was probably because he was a ‘fairly cheap’ option why Flynn kept offering him new deals.

A return of 24 goals in 93 games - 44 of those coming as a substitute - showed he had more than an eye for goal - especially in the FAW Premier Cup where he scored seven against Merthyr Tydfil in 2000.

Morrell’s big chance came in that 2002/03 season when he broke up Smith’s preferred front-line of Lee Jones and Trundle to make a massive impact - especially on his boss.

Smith said after that promotion season: “With Lee Trundle in the side wanting to be the star but Andy scoring the goals, there was the danger of a personality clash.

“Thankfully there is room in football supporters’ hearts for more than one hero and both men earned the right to be hero-worshipped that season.”