DARREN MOSS didn’t have any time for pre-match nerves as he made his debut as a raw teenager for Chester City at Brentford’s Griffin Park back in November 1998.

“Kevin Ratcliffe, who coincidentally is my brother’s hero, was Chester boss at the time and he used to take one of the youngsters to away games, just to make the tea and put the kit out,” said Moss, who celebrated his 39th birthday last weekend.

“And that’s exactly what I was doing, putting the kit out when he read the side out and I was in it. I didn’t have time for nerves and a bad game but we lost 2-1.”

It was the first of 70-plus games for the Wrexham-born wing back, who played for all his home-town’s cross-border rivals during an 18-year playing career.

Moss followed Ratcliffe to Shrewsbury after The Blues has been relegated from the Football League in Terry Smith’s controversial reign as owner. I loved it at Shrewsbury. We beat Everton in the FA Cup won year, went down into The Conference the following season but bounced back the next year under Jimmy Quinn.”

Moss, who trained with Wrexham under Dean Saunders but didn’t sign, went back to Shropshire for a second time after a two-season spell at Crewe Alex, who in the Championship at the time.

“They journey from The Conference to League Two was great but so was scoring the winning penalty in the semi-final play-offs in 2003/2004 and also playing at Wembley in the 2009 play-off final,” added Moss, who had spells with Morecambe, Bangor City and Nantwich Town.

Having then been involved in Welsh football with Cefn Druids and Conwy Borough, Moss, who also picked up six Welsh U21 caps, set up his own football coaching business, called MossFC in 2018.

“I coach any age and ability from grassroots to academy and also senior level,” said Moss, who has been unable to carry out sessions for two months due to the coronavirus restrictions.

“I’m hoping to be back soon depending on Government guidelines and this month I’ve been doing a 100k challenge to raise money for Young Minds Trust. My eight-year-old daughter, Elleya, is going to do the last 1k with me.

“I chose this charity as I work with children, coaching them one-to-one and in small groups. With the chaos we are currently going through, I feel for the children as it’s difficult enough for adults to even take on board what is happening right now.

I cannot wait until we all get through this tough time and everything returns to some normality. Everyone has been affected but I feel a lot of children and young people’s mental health will be effected so that’s why I chose this charity.”

“If anyone would like to donate to my JustGiving page, click onto this link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/darren-mossfc or go to www.mossfc.com”