Derbyshire right up Smith's street
EXCLUSIVE By Mark Currie, Daily Post
08 February 2006
All time playing career
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WREXHAM manager Denis Smith last night swooped
to sign striker Matt Derbyshire on loan from Premiership club Blackburn Rovers.
The highly-rated 19-year old has been on the Racecourse club's wanted list since
the early stages of the season, but instead went out on loan to Championship
outfit Plymouth Argyle.
That prompted Smith to turn to Liverpool's Robbie Foy, who returned to Anfield
at the end of last month.
Following yesterday's news that Juan Ugarte could be sidelined for the remainder
of the current campaign, the Dragons' boss wasted no time in contacting his
Ewood Park counterpart Mark Hughes and was given the go-ahead.
"I wanted to bring Matt in at the beginning of the season and was disappointed
to miss out," said Smith. "He went to Plymouth where he didn't get as many games
as he would have liked, so I'm delighted he's agreed to join us.
"He'll be here on Thursday morning, initially for a month, and we'll take it
from there, but I'm pleased to have him and it's nice to think that our patience
has paid off in the end."
In fact it was a case of third time lucky for Wrexham because an approach from
Smith to Blackburn only last month was rebuffed at the time due to the number of
injured players at Ewood Park.
On that occasion the Racecourse boss turned to Aston Villa and brought in Sam
Williams, who marked his Football League debut on Saturday with a goal during
the 2-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers.
Derbyshire, who will be 20 in April, has made one Premiership appearance as a
substitute against Fulham last season, but during four months at Plymouth made
just three starts and got a further 10 outings from the bench.
He scored for Blackburn Reserves in a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa on Monday
evening and, barring any untoward mishap, will make his Wrexham debut alongside
Williams at Macclesfield Town on Saturday.
Derbyshire's opportunity to shine comes at the expense of Ugarte, who suffered
his second knee injury of the season in Wrexham colours at the weekend. Like
Racecourse midfielder Levi Mackin, who picked up a similar knock against
Darlington in October, he faces an extended spell on the sidelines.
Following a scan yesterday, Crewe Alexandra manager Dario Gradi said: "He will
be fitted in a cast, which will immobilise him for a number of weeks and we are
expecting him to be out for months rather than weeks.
"He has had a troublesome knee and it's a re-occurrence of his previous injury.
We thought he would be ready to play again but that hasn't been the case and we
do not expect him back in the forseeable future.
"We are half-expecting to write him off for the rest of the season. Juan is a
super lad and great around the place so if he can be available for us before the
end of the season it would be a bonus."
The Gresty Road boss added: "Juan has another year on his contract with us, so
we have not even considered talking to him about his future yet. We are quite
happy for him to stay with us."
Last night Ugarte himself said he hoped still to play again this season.
"Hopefully in about five to six weeks I'll be playing again," he said.
"The doctor doesn't think I need an operation so I'll wear the brace and see
what happens."
With seven players currently under treatment at the Racecourse, Smith has named
a young reserve team line-up for tonight's match with Preston North End at
Buckley.
The only senior squad players likely to be involved are goalkeeper Michael
Jones, Dave Bayliss - whose suspension does not begin until later this week -
Alex Smith and Mike Williams.