Graeme Lee admits Hartlepool United's pursuit of former Middlesbrough, Coventry City and Portsmouth midfielder went down to the wire on transfer deadline day

Pools announced the signing of Morris on-loan from Burton Albion 20 minutes after Monday’s 11pm deadline with Lee declaring the deal was processed with just two minutes to spare.

Morris has been a long-term target for Lee since his arrival in December and the Pools boss has had to remain particularly patient to bring the former Middlesbrough man back to the North East.

“It was getting too close. We were down to two minutes in the end and every time I was going into the office to see if it was done they kept ushering me away because there were calls going off and paperwork getting done so it was a bit too close,” said Lee.

“You look and you’re always watching deadline days and thinking ‘how come people wait until the last minute’ and then we’ve realised why.

“I came in thinking I could be home by 1 o’clock but it didn’t obviously happen like that, but we're delighted it’s done.

“I’ve spoken with Bryn, it’s been an ongoing thing we wanted to get done for a while. We’ve had to be patient with it. Bryn has had to be patient with it.

“Bryn has openly told Burton he wanted Hartlepool no matter what and that shows his desire to play for his hometown club which is fantastic, they are the type of players we want here.”

The capture of Morris added to a successful first transfer window for Lee at the Suit Direct Stadium with the Brewers midfielder joining Omar Bogle in being the standout arrivals.

Morris is to remain at the Suit Direct Stadium until the end of the season but there is an option in place to extend his stay should the club choose to trigger it.

The Hartlepool-born midfielder has a wealth of Football League experience with the likes of Coventry City, Walsall, Shrewsbury Town, Wycombe Wanderers and Portsmouth before his move to the Pirelli Stadium last summer.

The former Middlesbrough trainee has made 10 appearances for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s side this season after joining on a free from Northampton Town but the 25-year-old has fallen out of favour with the Dutchman having not featured since the 4-0 win over Accrington Stanley in November.

But, despite a lengthy lay off from first team action, Lee is confident Morris will add quality to the Pools ranks.

“Bryn is a good player. He’s got an array of passing, he can break play up. He’s got a lot of attributes we’ve been looking for in midfield and he’ll add to the squad,” said Lee.

“Bryn is another one who’ll come in and he’ll have to fight for that place because the lads are doing well.

“But we said at the beginning of the window when we were talking about signings we want people who are going to impact the team in a positive way and the signings we’ve brought in will hopefully do that.”

A message from the Football Clubs Editor

Our aim is to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative Hartlepool United coverage 365 days a year.

This depth of coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to, please consider taking out a subscription to our new sports-only package here.

Your support is much appreciated. Richard Mennear, Football Clubs Editor.