Morecambe Properly Rammed by Derby.
Morecambe travelled to Derbyshire today to play at a venue occupied by Derby County football club for the very first time in the Shrimps’ one hundred years-plus history. The last time today’s hosts played at this venue was last Monday night against West Ham United in the FA Cup. They lost 0-2. Worse still, former Morecambe favourite Tom Barkhuizen was substituted during the second half. In truth, the Rams were never a match for the Irons and despite creditable performances from both Lewis Dobbin and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, there was a gulf in class between the two sides which was obvious for anyone to see.
However, County started today’s match in fourth place in League One, having accrued almost twice as many points (fifty) as the Shrimps (in 21st position) have, with just twenty-seven after the same number of games played. Impressively, though, County have been victorious in all of their last five League games, most recently at Port Vale, where they won 1-2 on January 24th. In their only ever previous encounter with the Shrimps, they drew 1-1 at the Maz last November in a game which saw home custodian Connor Ripley save not just one, but two penalties.
During the week, Derek Adams was finally able to unload some more of the Dead Wood bequeathed to him by former boss Stephen Robinson. Jon Obika has signed for Motherwell, North of the Border. Sadly, Jon won’t be missed. He was seriously injured shortly after arriving in north Lancashire last year but his very few performances since recovery have been way below par for a League One player. Let’s hope he has a more productive time for his new employer. As he left, Morecambe’s connections with Huddersfield Town have paid-off again as midfielder Josh Austerfield arrived on loan for the rest of the season. He had been playing with Harrogate Town in League Two until now but he has signed on the dotted line at the Maz until the end of the season. The fact that he is highly rated by the Terriers is shown by the fact that last Summer, they offered the 21-year-old a contract until 2026. If he turns out to be even half as impressive as team-mate Kieran Phillips was before injury earlier in the season, he will be a significant addition to the squad. Today, King Derek put Josh straight onto the bench and he managed to pick-up a Yellow Card during the brief period he was on the field late on into the game.
Mr Adams had this to say prior to the Derby game in an interview at the Maz:
“We go to a team that – before the game against West Ham – went nineteen games unbeaten. We understand the size of the football club. We did ever so well here in the first game to get a draw. But we go there off of a five-one win. We know we can create chances. Yes we’ll have to be defensively good on the day because they are very strong in that area. We have players that can hurt them but we’ll have to be excellent on the day.”
Opposite Number Paul Warne (does he sleep with a bobble hat on? – he never seems to take the awful things off…) said the following:
“In fairness to Morecambe they’ve won four out of five and are in good form. We’re on a good run but we’ve got to get back to it now after the FA Cup tie on Monday. We’ve just got to try and chase the third spot; let’s chase that. The lads are in a good place, they are desperate for success – which is priceless – and they are well prepared for the match on Saturday so we’ll just have to be at our best to win. Morecambe frustrated us back in November as we played out a 1-1 draw, but they did cause us problems as well. They’ve scored a lot of good counter-attacking goals recently and are good on set-pieces. They are going to come here on a really good run with a bit of positivity so this game is no easier or harder than someone like Sheffield Wednesday at home. They are just going to come here and pose different questions.”
Harvey White – newly-signed on-loan from Spurs – went onto the subs’ bench today as a replacement for the injured Rams midfielder Max Bird. David McGoldrick – lucky not be sent-off in November’s clash in Lancashire – returned to the first team squad after recent injury.
It was grey but dry throughout proceedings at Pride Park today. So what can we say about what happened in this David vs Goliath meeting once the game kicked-off?
I think all travelling supporters were surprised to see Arthur Gnahoua named in the starting eleven by King Derek today. He is a shadow of the man who helped turn the team’s fortunes around last year when Derek first returned to the Mazuma Stadium. So why was he on from the start? Equally, why had one of our more cultured defenders – Jacob Bedeau – been relegated to the bench?
Whatever, Morecambe played reasonably well for the first 44 minutes – all things considered. They took the game to County at the start and played on the front foot more often than not and occasionally surprised the home team with their approach. For example, promising teenager Adam Mayor not only robbed a home defender of the ball after forty minutes on the Shrimps’ extreme left, he took it around him, motored into the Derby penalty are and slipped a cross to the far post which was cleared for a corner. Excellent stuff indeed – even if against the run of play in all honesty. Most of the serious action was happening at the other end of the field.
For the hosts, Korey Smith set-up Nathaniel Mendez-Laing for a shot which Connor Ripley did well to save after twelve minutes, Then, David McGoldrick forced the second of a number of good saves from the away goalkeeper with just over twenty minutes played. Although they failed to really stretch home custodian Joe Wildsmith at any time, the visitors were still well in the game with forty-four minutes played. Then it all started to fall apart.
Dynel Simeu was adjudged to have fouled Haydon Roberts left of centre just outside the Shrimps’ penalty area from the home team’s point of view. The men in red did not set themselves up to defend this properly. Conor Hourihane slipped the resulting free-kick to McGoldrick and his low, swerving shot beat the Morecambe wall and a helpless Connor low to his left as well.
Just before half time is always a crucial time to score: it can motivate the scorers and deflate the opposition in equal measure.
And so it proved.
It’s definitely the hope that kills you – which is not an original thought. As – in our little corner of a packed stadium – we Shrimps fans were hoping for better things in the second half, I – for one – belatedly realised why Derek had chosen to play Uncle Arthur from the start.
He had provided one moment of pure magic in the first half when he actually beat an opponent on the Morecambe right and slung over a decent cross from close to the goal-line – but had done little else other than whip a hopeful, shot well off target after about a quarter of an hour. Today, though, his task was obviously to provide support for weak Skipper Donald Love on our right flank.
Regrettably, though – he didn’t.
Almost from kick-off in the second half, the ball arrived in the danger area on the Derby left adjacent to the corner flank which our intrepid duo were supposed to be patrolling. But – perhaps too polite to interfere in the other one’s duties; bamboozled by what their Gaffer had told them to do in the first place or simply unable to communicate between themselves, Donald left it to Arthur – and Arthur left it to Donald.
You can’t do this against a team like Derby and get away with it. Haydon Roberts nipped in and sent over a cross which was deflected by a despairing Simeu’s foot to be headed back by Mendez-Laing at the far stick for McGoldrick to score an oh-too-easy unmarked second goal on the day.
Two minutes later, the Shrimps were three-down. Weak referee Craig Hicks adjudged Simeu to have fouled James Collins in the box on the County right and McGoldrick scored emphatically to bury memories of his penalty being saved by Ripley at Morecambe last year.
So, in a period of just five minutes on both sides of the break, the game was well and truly lost. The Ref then gifted the home side another penalty with just over an hour played which Collins himself buried – to also atone for the save Connor had made against him in the reverse fixture.
By this time, Morecambe had been run ragged. Derby scored another goal in the sixty-ninth minute when Skipper Craig Forsyth played a killer pass centrally into the feet of Jason Knight, who turned brilliantly and found the back of the net with a sublime strike. It was too easy by this stage of proceedings – and it could have been more. During the second half, Morecambe offered nothing going forward – and not a lot as they back-pedalled more often than not either.
One of the few things I would say in mitigation for Morecambe today is that the Referee didn’t do them any favours. The first `penalty’ was doubtful. The second one shouldn’t have been given: Farrend Rawson won the ball fair and square. But the Ref was on the other side of the alleged offence as was his linesman on the far rather than the near side of the field from where we Shrimps supporters saw what actually happened. From their angle, this would have looked like a foul – but it wasn’t. So why did they collectively give a penalty?
It’s too simple to say they both guessed. They undoubtedly did – but in front of a loud crowd of over 20,000 souls baying for a penalty, it was hardly a surprise that this decision was made.
Equally, County players were responsible for some bad fouls today. Morecambe committed more –there’s no dispute about that, But how can it be right that four of our men were booked today – but nobody from the home side received even a single yellow card?
I posed the question back in November in the opposite fixture as to whether or not EFL officials are objectively truly unbiased. McGoldrick should have been sent off then for an appalling foul on Ryan Cooney. Other County players got away with other offences – repeatedly kicking the ball away when penalised, for instance – without any sanction at all. Derby surely have enough advantages already – in terms of talent, support and revenue – without the officials helping them out into the bargain.
Don’t get me wrong: the Rams didn’t need any help today. To recap what was stated about the West Ham game earlier: in truth, the Shrimps were never a match for County this afternoon and there was a gulf in class between the two sides which was obvious for anyone to see.
King Derek, of course, would not express this so negatively. At the end of proceedings, he announced:
“Our first half performance was very good, the second half we couldn’t do much about it. We were three-nil down quite quickly into that second half. Derby – at that stage – their tales were up. They’re at home; the home crowd are with them. We had moments in the first half where we got into their final third with Adam Mayor, Arthur Gnahoua, Crowley and Stockton. But we just weren’t able to get the better of them today.”
Morecambe fell into the highest of the relegation positions as a result: fourth from bottom. Derby, conversely – ended-up fourth from the top. Elsewhere, Accrington Stanley lost at home 0-3 to Lincoln and Forest Green also lost at home 0-2 to Peterborough. The team who pretend to be Wimbledon won at apparently useless (according to their Manager last week at the Maz) Bristol Rovers by the same score. Burton Albion (for whom ex-Shrimps Skipper Sam Lavelle will feature in future games) won at Fleetwood 2-3 to push Derek Adams’ men back into the mire. They will thus do themselves a massive favour if they manage to beat the only Vegan club on the planet next Saturday at the Maz…
Derby County: 1 Joe Wildsmith; 3 Craig Forsyth (C); 4 Conor Hourihane (16 Liam Thompson 73’); 6 Eiran Cashin; 9 James Collins: 10 David McGoldrick (23 Harvey White 67’); 11 Nathaniel Mendez-Laing (7 Tom Barkhuizen 67’); 12 Korey Smith; 15 Haydon Roberts (17 Louie Sibley 74’); 18 Lewis Dobbin; 38 Jason Knight (22 Tony Springett 74’) .
Subs not used: 32 Luke McGee; 33 Curtis Davies.
Morecambe: 1 Connor Ripley; 2 Donald Love (C) (Y); 4 Liam Gibson (Y); 5 Farrend Rawson; 8 Daniel Crowley; 9 Cole Stockton; 11 Michael Mellon; 15 Jensen Weir; 16 Jacob Bedeau; 20 Liam Shaw (22 Josh Austerfield (Y) 79’); 29 Dynel Simeu (Y) (6 Ryan Delaney 79’).
Subs not used: 12 Adam Smith; 10 Ash Hunter; 14 Arthur Gnahoua; 21 Ryan Cooney; 25 Adam Mayor;.
Ref: Craig Hicks.
Att: 26,035 (over 800 from Morecambe)
