A Happy Valley for Morecambe this afternoon.
Let’s cast our minds back almost exactly twelve months to the fifteenth of April last year. At the time, I wrote the following: “Morecambe visited The Valley in south east London for the first time ever today. They arrived to face Charlton Athletic with the hope of keeping out of the relegation zone in League One.”
They succeeded: against all odds and many expectations, the Shrimps took the game to their former Premiership hosts and won by the odd goal in five. With only three games left of the campaign after this match, it was undoubtedly the key result which finally kept Morecambe in the division by the skin of their teeth.
Today, though, the Shrimps arrived in south London in an even more parlous position than they were last time they visited this venue just over a year ago. With only three games left altogether, the north Lancashire club found themselves effectively four points adrift of safety (Oxford United are only three points better off but have a vastly superior Goal Difference) in twenty-second place in the division. Charlton, by contrast, sat comfortably in tenth position in the table.
The Addicks had never beaten Morecambe when they arrived at the Maz on 14th March last for a re-arranged midweek game. Last season, Charlton drew at the side of Morecambe Bay before losing the return fixture at home in the two clubs’ only ever previous encounters. That all changed on the night as Athletic comprehensively outplayed Derek Adams men to go back home with a 1-4 victory and all three points. Since then, though, their own form has been unpredictable in the extreme. They did today’s visitors a massive favour by beating the Plastic People 0-1 at Milton Keynes last Tuesday night but they were hammered by Ipswich at Portman Road 6-0 this time last week. On April Fool’s Day, though, they won by a similar score against Shrewsbury Town at the Valley. So it seems that nobody is ever sure which Charlton is likely to show-up. Today, they had nothing to play for except pride and perhaps to catch the Manager’s eye with a view to being retained in a very short few weeks’ time. Boss Dean Holden said that his team were not taking anything for granted against Morecambe when he announced prior to the match:
“It’s important that we show up again on Saturday. We went to MK Dons and they were unbeaten in seven games, even though they’re down near the bottom. We’ve gone there and turned them over. We’ve managed to overcome disappointing results but maintain the confidence quite well this season. It’s easy to go overboard after the game and emotions can get the better of you but keeping the players’ confidence is the most important thing. Morecambe are fighting for everything and we have to give them total respect. For us, it’s another home game at The Valley and there’s only two left, so our supporters will be coming along excited for that reason and hopefully we can score some more goals. I expect to get three really solid performances out of the next three games from this team. Of course, a lot of the focus is on next season and the planning, but making sure we finish strong is really important to me.”
For Morecambe, though, this match was potentially absolutely pivotal to their survival for a second term in the third highest tier of English professional football. They needed to win: nothing else would do.
All the odds were against them doing so, though. The Shrimps have only won one away game in the league all season – against doomed Forest Green Rovers last year. They have been regularly hammered by ex-Premiership outfits this season: 5-0 at Derby and Barnsley alone for example. So they would need a radical change of fortune and form today if they expected to win this game. King Derek summed-up his men’s chances of doing this before the match in these terms:
“It would be a miracle. We’re in a situation where we’ve got three games to go and we are three points adrift. It would be a miracle that’s quite possible to happen. It can happen. We have shown before – it was a miracle last season because of the run-in that we had. So we’d shown last season that miracles come around so a second one is still possible.”
Skipper Donald Love and impressive youngster Adam Mayor were both injured and unavailable for selection today. So Derek chose Ryan Cooney and Arthur Gnahoua as replacements in his starting eleven.
It was overcast in the south east of the capital and not particularly warm as the game kicked-off. The contest was fairly even and neither goalkeeper was tested during the opening minutes of the match. But the opening goal of the game was an explosive one from Cole Stockton as he saw Australian goalkeeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer slightly off his line and launched a scorcher of a shot past him from all of about thirty yards out into the top corner of the net after eight minutes. It was a fantastic strike reminiscent of the goals which he regularly slotted home for the Shrimps all of last season. Morecambe set-up the next chance as Josh Austerfield found Uncle Arthur on the edge of the Charlton penalty area with fourteen minutes played. But a very well timed last-ditch intervention by George Dobson stopped Arthur pulling the trigger.
The home team won the first corner of the afternoon after nineteen minutes but it came to nothing. Michael Hector then fouled Gnahoua in a dangerous position after twenty minutes. Pape N’Diaye Souaré hit the free-kick into the Athletic wall and the men in the red shirts were eventually able to clear it. Crystal Palace loanee Jesurun Rak-Sakyi then warmed Connor Ripley’s hands with a shot from a long way out with twenty-three minutes on the clock but it was a routine stop for the visiting keeper. Seven minutes later, Jack Payne put the ball in the away net but Referee David Rock had already stopped the game and allowed a free-kick for a foul on Aaron Henry. This came to nothing but Connor was again forced into action on the half hour as he saved a header by Michael Hector from Albie Morgan’s corner. Thirty-seven minutes had been played when Austerfield found Stockton at the far post with a cross from the Morecambe right but Cole’s header went high and wide of the target. Dan Crowley then sent a dangerous cross over from the Morecambe right which eluded Jensen Weir in the centre but fell perfectly for Stockton but he fluffed his lines with only two minutes scheduled to play of the half as the home goalkeeper seemed to put him off his stride. But Jack Payne walloped a low cross from the Addicks’ left across the away penalty area in injury time for Rak-Sakyi to bundle it home at the far post to equalise for the Londoners. As the home crowd belatedly came to life, Charlton started to seriously trouble the Morecambe rearguard for the first time in the match after this and the men in the dark blue strip would have been glad to get back to the Dressing Rooms and re-set when the Referee’s whistle finally sounded after forty-eight minutes. It was a disappointing end to a really promising half for the visitors. Morecambe deservedly led thanks to excellent work by the stalled Goal Machine early doors and could – and probably should – have gone further ahead right at the death via the same source.
As the sun came out, the hosts started the second period on the front foot and saw Miles Leaburn head over the Morecambe bar from a Payne corner after only two minutes of the re-start. Out of nothing, though, Jensen Weir conjured a tremendous ball forward to Cole and this time – after fifty-eight minutes – our Centre Forward made no mistake as he poked the ball past Maynard-Brewer to put the visitors back into the lead. Just six minutes later, the Shrimps went even further ahead. Crowley passed to Cole, who drew a great save from the home stopper but Weir was quickest to the loose ball and smashed it home to put the visitors into dreamland with the highest score they have achieved on the road this season.
The home team repeated the pattern of last season’s game with just eleven minutes scheduled to play. Substitute Scott Fraser was allowed too much space in the away penalty area and he managed to turn and place a shot out of reach of Ripley to test the nerves of the 220 wonderful Shrimps’ supporters who were present for the last ten minutes. It was Squeaky Bum time as Morecambe’s defence looked slightly disorganised occasionally. Cole cleared an effort off the goal-line with 81 minutes played but – try as they might and with no less than six minutes added-on at the end – Charlton couldn’t quite manage to find another goal.
So miracles do happen after all…
Elsewhere, things could hardly have gone any better for Morecambe today. All their rivals at the bottom of League One lost this afternoon. Fleetwood beat the Wimbledon impersonators 1-0 at Highbury. The Plastic People are just two points ahead of the north Lancashire club this evening as a result. Accrington lost by the only goal of the game at Portsmouth. Oxford United were defeated as well at Barnsley by two goals to nil. Cambridge United were sunk by three goals to one at Plymouth. So the Shrimps find themselves level on points with Oxford but still in the bottom four on Goal Difference alone this evening. Accrington and Oxford both play next Tuesday night, which will finally use up to game in hand they still have over the Shrimps. Next Saturday, though, Morecambe could be facing a realistic escape from the Legion of the Doomed as they entertain Lincoln City – depending on what happens this Tuesday and on the day elsewhere.
King Derek was understandably on Cloud Nine after the miracle he had predicted actually came to pass. He said:
“It was another great performance from us. We’ve had four really tough games. Today’s performance was excellent. You could just see from the players at the start of the game, they were right at it. To go in at half time one-one was probably a wee bit unjust because we could have gone two-nil ahead with a chance just before that. We’re at the stage in the season where it’s just important of getting a win. I said that to them today. I said before the game ` This is your last game of the season. We’ve got three games to go but honestly, this is your last. We’ve got to win this game today!’ And that’s what they went out and played like. They played it like it was their last game of football. If you do that, you can give yourselves a great opportunity. We’ve given ourselves an opportunity. Nobody can ask for any more of this football club because it’s a really tough division that we’re in and we are fighting to stay in it.”
Charlton Athletic: 31 Ashley Maynard-Brewer; 2 Steven Sessegnon (35 Daniel Kanu 69’); 3 Terell Thomas; 4 George Dobson (C); 6 Michael Hector; 10 Albie Morgan; 17 Jesurun Rak-Sakyi; 19 Jack Payne (43 Tyreece Campbell 61’); 28 Sean Clare; 32 Aaron Henry (21 Scott Fraser; 61’); 33 Miles Leaburn (Y).
Subs not used: 1 Joseph Wollacott; 16 Todd Kane; 18 Mandela Egbo; 48 Zach Mitchell.
Morecambe: 1 Connor Ripley (C); 4 Liam Gibson; 5 Farrend Rawson; 8 Daniel Crowley (7 Jake Taylor 71’) ; 9 Cole Stockton; 14 Arthur Gnahoua (6 Ryan Delaney 86’); 15 Jensen Weir (18 Oumar Niasse 86’); 16 Jacob Bedeau; 21 Ryan Cooney; 22 Josh Austerfield; 23 Pape N’Diaye Souaré (3 Max Melbourne 52’).
Subs not used: 12 Adam Smith; 10 Ash Hunter; 29 Dynel Simeu.
Ref: David Rock.
Att: 13,347 (220 from Morecambe.)
