Morecambe pinch Colchester’s unbeaten Home Record – and all the points…
Morecambe made the long journey to Essex today to face Steve Ball’s Colchester United in League Two. The two clubs were tied on twenty-eight points after eighteen games with United in the lowest of the Playoff positions – seventh – only on goal difference. The `U’s’ have lost two and won two of their last five league games. Most recently, they went down by two goals to one against Cambridge in a Black Lives Matter controversy-wracked game at the Abbey Stadium last Tuesday. At the same time, Morecambe had come from behind to win by the same score against Leyton Orient back home in Lancashire. The Shrimps went into today’s contest on the back of three wins and two losses in their last five league outings. Overall, they have beaten today’s opponents once in the past; lost once and – amazingly – drawn all six of their other previous meetings.
In the admittedly pretty grim COVID League, Colchester was in the lead as well by one measure at least. United’s home ground has the pretty prosaic name The Colchester Community Stadium. (Wouldn’t Cuckoo Farm – as the area where it can be found used to be known – sound a bit more interesting? Or should we invite MK so-called Dons to use this name instead? Sorry, I digress…)
Anyway, the postcode for the stadium on United Way is CO4 6UP (as in UP CO-lchester presumably…) In the seven days leading up to December 11th 2020, sixteen unfortunate locals were tested positive for Coronavirus – there were just eleven in the area covered by the Mazuma Stadium postcode during the same week. In fact, Morecambe was leading in the rate that really matters: its proportion of infections had gone up from the previous week to a theoretical 163.7 per 100,000 residents as opposed to 107.5/100k in Colchester. Today’s news is that a new strain of the virus is spreading rapidly across the south-east of the country. I would have thought that this is yet another reason to apply the rules which exist back at home and not allow crowds to attend today’s game – but The `U’s’ Manager for one would not agree:
“We can’t wait for Saturday to be back at home. We have seen what a difference (crowds) make when they are in and I was really grateful when the announcement of the tiers came through. Obviously I want the away form to be better, but the home form is excellent, and Morecambe are a good side this year. They’ll be really organised and be a tough nut to crack, but we are hoping we can turn them over. We have to stay positive after Tuesday, it was a disappointing night of course. But it’s time now to get prepared for Saturday.”
That’s enough about the virus now other than to mention the fact that the Mazuma Stadium has become the town’s first COVID-19 vaccination centre. It’s good to see the club leading the way in the response to the pandemic.
Back in Essex, Morecambe Manager Derek Adams pinpointed what his players had to do this afternoon on the field:
“Colchester have a good record at home and are a good side with a good blend of youth and experience in their side. They like to play expansive football and are good at it too so we know we will have to be at our best. They will also have a crowd behind them which will make it the first game this season where we have played in front of fans so that adds something to the game. We are in good form ourselves though and getting some good results. We gave a good record there as a club and I’m hoping we can continue that.”
It was dry and quite sunny as the game started. I was personally hoping that the heavens would open to salute Noah Chilvers’ promotion to the Colchester First Eleven today if only to make some sort of joke about Arks worthy of the Shrimpartial Twins on i-Follow. But they weren’t there as it turned out – today’s commentary (and live updates for Radio Lancashire) was manfully handled by long-time stalwart Derek Quinn.
The players and black Referee Sam Allison Took The Knee before kick-off and the Colchester fans generously applauded this gesture. This was a refreshing contrast to more Neanderthal responses from at least one Usual Suspect – Millwall supporters – in recent times. Colchester did a passable impression of Chelsea as they ditched their usual striped strip for an all-blue number with white socks. They didn’t play like Morecambe’s next opponents in the FA Cup, though. Morecambe looked the better team right from the start. Playing into the sun which hung low in the sky behind the stand which held most of the spectators, they played cleverly and accurately in the hosts’ own territory for the best part of the first half an hour. It took just eight minutes for them to go ahead. Aaron Wildig sent a corner kick into the middle; the ball found its way to John O’Sullivan and he scored with a tremendous volley from outside the penalty area which gave home keeper Dean Gerken no chance at all. Two minutes later, Yann Songo’o headed another corner straight at the home goalkeeper who fumbled it but managed to recover. Then Wildig found Carlos Mendes-Gomes with a good pass in the home penalty area but Carlos couldn’t get hold of the ball properly and his attempted cross was easily fielded by Gerken. Seventeen minutes were on the clock when Adam Phillips played-in Cole Stockton who blasted the ball just the wrong side of the orange-clad goalkeeper’s left post with Gerken at full stretch. A minute later, Courtney Senior made the first attempt on goal for the home team but his wild shot from a long way out went way past the target. Ryan Cooney was booked after 21 minutes for a cynical foul. Cohen Bramall took the resulting free-kick from the United left and found Michael Folivi’s head, who placed the ball into the back of the net for a surprise – and barely merited – equaliser. The visitors lost a little momentum after this but on a swift counter-attack after about twenty-six minutes, they won another corner kick on the Colchester left. Wildig played the ball low to Phillips in an obviously rehearsed move but Adam’s resultant shot went right over the target. With the Shrimps still creating nearly all the chances, Sully passed to Wildig after 32 minutes only to see Morecambe’s Number Ten strike another long-range effort over the bar. Two minutes later, the same combination linked-up again and Aaron headed right at Gerken in the home penalty area: he was offside as it turned-out. Cole then set-up Aaron for a shot which Gerken could only block – he then clumsily pushed Carlos’ effort from the rebound against his post and away: he was lucky to get away with it. So the half ended with Morecambe asking all the questions and the home crowd with little to shout about.
Phillips was injured at the end of the first period and was replaced by Toumani Diagouraga. Not that it seemed to make any difference to the pattern of the game. Within a minute of the restart, Wildig did brilliantly to rob a ball being shepherded out for a goal kick but his resulting cross was far too close to the home custodian. Soon afterwards, Carlos was almost able to wriggle away from Noah Chilvers in the Colchester penalty area – but not quite. Only forty-seven minutes had been played when the next chance for the visitors arrived. Diagouraga played-in Stockton for a low shot which hit the far post and bounced away harmlessly with the keeper beaten. Two minutes later, the same player met Carlos’ fine cross from the right flank with a tremendous header which Gerken excelled to push against the angle of his left post and bar – and away. In a rare foray into the visitors’ half, Bramall and Folivi had a shot and a rebound saved by Mark Halstead after about fifty minutes. At the other end shortly afterwards, though, that man Stockton again spun and shot in one movement to force a save at the expense of a corner from Gerken. Then Carlos swung over a cross after 54 minutes which Toumani headed powerfully against the underside of the United bar with their goalkeeper beaten again.
Steve Ball shuffled his pack at this point with a triple substitution followed shortly afterwards by another. But the changes made little difference: Morecambe still bossed the game and it was being played mostly in the Colchester half. After an hour, more excellent approach work saw Wildig take a shot which bounced off a defender for a corner. From this, `Toums’ flicked the ball on at the near post for an unmarked Songo’o to score at the far one. It was another clearly rehearsed set-piece and it gave back to Morecambe a lead which they richly deserved. Not long after this, Cole pressured Senior into conceding a corner kick from which Sam Lavelle headed high over the opposition bar. Then Stockton blasted the ball from a narrow angle from the Morecambe right which Gerken stopped but couldn’t hold – his defenders again came to the rescue. As the Shrimps continued to press, though, Michael Folivi tried his luck from all of thirty yards with a fierce shot which Halstead did well to push away for a corner kick after 78 minutes. In injury time, Ben Stevenson’s shot was also well saved by the visiting keeper. A draw, however, was far more than Colchester deserved: they were well beaten today by a team which played some truly excellent football at times.
The win pushed Morecambe up to the giddy height of fifth in League Two. United, meanwhile, saw their unbeaten home record disappear as they slipped down the table to tenth.
Colchester United: 1 Dean Gerken; 18 Tom Eastman; 5 Tommy Smith (C); 7 Courtney Senior; 10 Jevani Brown (9 Luke Norris 58’); 3 Cohen Bramall; 24 Ben Stevenson; 14 Noah Chilvers (26 Luke Gambin 65’); 38 Junior Tchamadeu (2 Miles Welch-Hayes 58’); 11 Callum Harriott (23 Kwame Poku 58’); 39 Michael Folivi.
Subs not used: 29 Shamal George; 21 Ryan Clampin; 6 Omar Sowunmi.
Morecambe: 12 Mark Halstead; 3 Stephen Hendrie; 5 Sam Lavelle (C); 6 Harry Davis; 24 Yann Songo’o; 10 Aaron Wildig (22 Liam Gibson 91’); 11 Carlos Mendes-Gomes (Y); 16 John O’Sullivan (14 Alex Kenyon 91’); 20 Adam Phillips (8 Toumani Diagouraga 45’); 21 Ryan Cooney (Y); 9 Cole Stockton
Subs not used: 1 Jake Turner; 19 Liam McAlinden; 4 Nathaniel Knight-Percival; 17 A-Jay Leitch-Smith.
Ref: Sam Allison.
Attendance: 1094
