Hassel Bainks Another Win.
Morecambe crossed the country from west to east tonight to continue a League One campaign fractured by International Call-Ups in recent times. Burton Albion were the hosts for a match re-arranged from its original Saturday afternoon spot tomorrow for reasons which elude me. Special Xmas Shopping reductions in the Burton shops for one day only? Orthodox Judaism putting its foot down and making a stand against despoilment of the Sabbath at last? Not wanting to miss out on the Oktoberfest which started at the National Brewing Centre in the town today? Or maybe – along the same lines – an actual Black Sabbath concert? Armageddon prophecies perhaps? (Is there a lot of difference between the last two in all truth?) Burton’s own website doesn’t bother to explain any reason for the change but it very helpfully assures one and all `If you have synced your device’s calendar to our fixtures, it should update automatically soon.”
Thank goodness for that. What more does anyone need to know – particularly those who are facing a drive right back across the country in the dead of night at the end of proceedings?
Burton were tenth in the League One table but had won only one of their last five games and lost three, most recently when they went down by the odd goal in three to league Leaders Plymouth Argyle in Devon last Saturday. They were thus three positions higher than tonight’s visitors but had played a game more than the team from Lancashire. For their part, Morecambe had won two and lost two of their last five league games. Last time out – two weeks ago – they threw-away a 0-2 lead at Wycombe and shipped four goals in a second half where their defending – fragile at best since the departure of former Skipper Sam Lavelle to Charlton a few weeks ago – fell apart altogether. The number thirteen recurs as we consider the total of the previous league and single League Cup meeting between the two clubs. Albion have won seven of these; the Shrimps just four. The Brewers won all four of their first home EFL League Two matches against Morecambe; the first one of which was their inaugural match in the Football League. But – as encouragement to the visitors – they have lost both of the last couple of home ties between the two clubs at the Pirelli Stadium. Even more encouragement must come from their record against each other back to pre-EFL days. Morecambe won all five of these games home and away, scoring fourteen goals and conceding just two in the process. I never visited their former ground from these times – Eton Park. But I know Morecambe supporters who tell me that an abiding memory of it was a large sign right across the front of the Main Stand advertising “Don Amott – King of Motor Caravans”. Shrimps’ supporters apparently chanted this – make up your own tune – at the end of every victory. Bear this in mind; we are going to return to it.
Before the game, Dutch legend and Burton Manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink said about tonight’s opponents:
“It’s a team that stick together, a team that works hard together and they stick to their strengths. They are well organised. They have a low block and back off, which then allows them to hit sides of the break. They are in that momentum of promotion and feeling good. They are no mugs – you don’t go to Ipswich and play against Sheffield Wednesday and win if you are. They have got things in order, and we need to be at our best as they’re not going to be a simple pushover.”
His opposite number assessed the task facing his men thus prior to the game:
“Jimmy has a team which work their socks off; they are really aggressive in how they press. They’ve had a really good start to the season but they’ve had some indifferent results recently but they are a good team; they are a team that’s going to be very, very difficult to play against; a team that we can play against if we are brave on the ball again but we’re expecting a really good challenge.”
It had been sunny and dry during the day at Burton. As night crept on, though, icy tentacles started to wriggle from the darkness under a cloudless pitch-black sky to gradually colonise one’s extremities and it was approaching freezing at the end of the match.
The visitors started brightly and took the lead before the home crowd had seemingly organised themselves properly. The visitors won a throw on their left; Alfie McCalmont mis-kicked a shot at goal and the ball broke to Liam Gibson, who scored with a tremendous strike from a long way out.
The Brewers responded, though, almost immediately. In the fifth minute, Jonny Smith played-in the nippy and elusive Harry Chapman but his shot was straight at visiting keeper Kyle Letheren, who saved easily enough. Then the Shrimps conceded a corner. Fingers and everything else crossed given the calamitous way the team has attempted to defend set pieces in recent games. Thomas O’Connor took it from the Burton right. He hit the ball hard and low spinning towards the near post which Adam Phillips was allegedly guarding for the visitors. And Phillips unaccountably decided to step out of the way. In it went to the understandable anger and bemusement of Letheren, who may have touched it but was clearly both dismayed and furious about what had happened and made his thoughts known to Morecambe’s Burnley loanee in no uncertain terms. Phillips held his hands out in denial of any fault – `Wot, me Guv? What could I do?’ Well – stand your ground for a start, Adam. It was as pathetic and bizarre a goal to concede as you could ever see; it threw away Morecambe’s momentum; it threw away their advantage and – worse still – betrayed a blasé attitude towards rank bad play by what is supposed to be one of the team’s better players. Phillips was poor tonight and was rightly taken off in the second half. Apart from forcing a sharp save from home custodian Ben Garratt after 25 minutes, he provided virtually nothing going forwards except half-decent corners. It’s a shame he started in the first place in my opinion for all the use he was – not for the first time recently either.
Anyway, having thrown their lead away, the Shrimps then proceeded to try and play on the back foot. As a consequence, Chapman was again allowed to run riot and after twelve minutes, the ball found its way to Daniel Jebbison, whose shot was just too high. Just two minutes later, the home side took the lead. With the away defence in retreat and seemingly also in complete disarray, Tom Hamer took a throw to Lucas Akins who set off on an unchallenged run down the Albion left before slinging over an inch perfect cross for Conor Shaughnessy to steer past a helpless Letheren to turn the game on its head. Twenty minutes or so were on the clock when Chapman then tried his own luck with a fine shot from a free-kick which Letheren did brilliantly to claw away for a corner. Hold your breath… Morecambe survive this one though… In fact, they had the better of the final quarter of an hour of the first half, which was played almost exclusively in the Brewers’ half. Garrett again did well to save a tremendous curling effort from McCalmont which seemed to be heading for the top corner of his net with five minutes left to play. Phillips’ corner hit the post and was cleared after that but the visitors were asking all the questions as the game reached the half way point
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was noticeable by his constant gesticulations and endless shouting of instructions from the sidelines throughout the first half in particular. Whatever wisdom he imparted to his troops during the half-time break soon paid dividends. Burton had the rub of the green when what looked from where I was sitting to be a certain penalty to the visitors after just two minutes of the re-start. But Referee Martin Coy gave nothing. Anywhere else on the field, he would almost certainly have blown for a foul – but not tonight. There was nothing lucky about what turned-out to be the decisive goal of the game though. With 50 minutes played, Tom O’Connor received a pass from Smith and curled a peach of a shot out of Letheren’s reach from all of 25 yards to make it 3-1 to the Brewers. They had a few more chances before the end of the match but the visiting goalkeeper didn’t have any more difficult saves to make.
Stephen Robinson shuffled his pack – sorry; according to the stadium announcer, “Morecambe Substitutions are brought to you by Doggy Day Care, Burton”- and Greg Leigh and Aaron Wildig were thrown into the fray. Neither had any impact and Wildig was anonymous for the entire time he stayed on the field. Cole the Goal managed to shake-off his multiple markers after 67 minutes, turn and unleash a shot in typical style. But for once, he missed. Right in the fourth minute of extra time – with the final play of the match – he didn’t, though. The ball came over from the Morecambe left and Cole headed it home to keep up his phenomenal scoring prowess so far this season. But it was too little, too late.
Morecambe threw this game away tonight. Too many players – Ryan Cooney and the aforementioned Phillips and Wildig among them – just didn’t turn up. Aaron has an excuse – like Jonah Ayunga, who won lots of headers after coming on at half time – he is returning from a long-term injury plus illness. But the team as a whole played poorly as a unit and their defending was shambolic a lot of the time. Burton don t look a particularly good team to me despite taking all the points tonight. The win, however, pushed them up to seventh in League One. Morecambe remained in thirteenth position – one which will inevitably change for the worse tomorrow when the rest of the programme is played.
I’m afraid I also have bad news for Don Amott. Sadly, the King of Motor Caravans has been dethroned. Shrimps’ fans chanted towards the end of the game “Doggy Day Care Burton – Dah, dah – dah dah dah!” and thus abandoned him. So – although the team lost tonight – altogether now:
“Doggy Day Care Burton – Dah, dah – dah dah dah!”
“Doggy Day Care Burton – Dah, dah – dah dah dah!”
Burton Albion: 24 Ben Garratt; 3 Cameron Borthwick-Jackson; 4 Deji Oshilaja (C) (Y); 10 Lucas Akins; 11 Jonny Smith; 15 Thomas O’Connor; 16 Conor Shaughnessy; 21 Daniel Jebbison (9 Kane Hemmings 69’); 37 Tom Hamer (Y); 38 Michael Mancienne (Y) (23 Terry Taylor 80’); 39 Harry Chapman (Y) (40 Charlie Lakin 69’).
Subs Not Used: 22 Ellery Balcombe; 25 Ciaran Gilligan; 26 Ryan Leak; 29 Jacob Maddox.
Morecambe: 1 Kyle Letheren; 4 Anthony O’Connor (C); 7 Wes McDonald (10 Aaron Wildog 57’); 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 9 Cole Stockton; 18 Adam Phillips (3 Greg Leigh 57’); 22 Liam Gibson (Y); 24 Arthur Gnahoua (17 Jonah Ayunga 45’); 25 Alfie McCalmont; 31 Scott Wootten.
Subs Not Used: 20 Jökull Andrésson; 6 Callum Jones 15 Ryan Delaney; 23 Freddie Price.
Ref: Martin Coy.
Att: 2, 477 (about 300 from Morecambe).
