It was one in, one out at King's Lynn Town today - but manager Ian Culverhouse was keen to talk about the future, and how his newest signing brings some continuity. CHRIS LAKEY reports
Ian Culverhouse knows a good plan when he sees one – and when striker Junior Morias made it clear he was welcome to the idea of a switch to The Walks, the Linnets boss knew he was on to a good thing.
Culverhouse has always liked the big man, small man approach up front - it brought him successive promotions after all - but begins the season without Michael Gash and Adam Marriott, who had worked it to perfection in recent seasons.
They’re a hard act to follow, but Culverhouse thinks he’s solved one half of the problem by signing former Posh striker Morias, who has signed a one-year deal now his spell at St Mirren is over. Now all he needs is a replacement for Gash – and that could be on the way within days.
Make no mistake, Morias is the little man in this deal – but on first appearances, he’s packed with power. And he has another valuable commodity - he’s hungry.
Culverhouse said he jumped at the chance to sign Morias – who had a loan spell with Lynn’s National League rivals Boreham Wood earlier this season
“A real experienced player at a lot higher level than we have been at and used to this level as well, so when he became available and showed an interest that he was keen to come I jumped at it because I know what he is all about,” said Culverhouse, speaking on the day that he saw young midfielder Sonny Carey join Championship side Blackpool.
“He just needs to play consistently and we will give him that opportunity but he will give us some real attacking strength up there.”
So a straight replacement for Mazza then?
“We had good success with the big man, small one here so we will look to replicate that again so the next one to come in will hopefully complement that,” said the Lynn boss.
“And he has a fantastic scoring record and he will be a big threat.
“He is hungry, very, very hungry. They all are who are coming in. All the players we have spoken to know the league or have played higher than this and that’s great to have that, and they are hungry to come on board and push this club forward.”
Morias, 25, began his career in the youth team at Fulham, but turned pro at Wycombe in 2012, joining Boreham Wood in October 2014. He also played for Whitehawk and St Albans City before joining Peterborough in January 2017, scoring 10 goals in 45 games before moving on to Northampton and St Mirren. He was on loan to National League Boreham Wood in the second half of last season, scoring once in 11 starts.
That’s a shedload of experience. Talking to him it’s clear that the opportunity to work with a manager who wants him and at a club with ambition was a big draw. Morias’s two years at Posh saw him work under chalk and cheese managers: Grant McCann– “nothing bad to say about Grant McCann” - and the rather more combustible Steve Evans, who, three months after arriving, let Morias go.
Now, both manager and player want each other - and Lynn should benefit.
“I am a fighter, I am goal scorer,” he said. “I know in terms of stats it hasn’t shown over the last couple of years but having the manager saying some words to me I want to show in action that he believes in me and trusts me and that is a big thing for me.
“I bring fight, running behind, pin, I do all sorts - I am just a pain on the backside to play against.
“It is like a rebirth for make to come now and do what I am supposed to do and get on a journey and create memories with his lovely club.”
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