Oliver: “More!” Comes Back To Haunt Morecambe….
Morecambe made the long journey to the other end of England today to visit Gillingham at their Priestfield Stadium in deepest, darkest Kent. They arrived in eleventh place in the League One table, having registered their first defeat of the season when they lost at home to Rotherham United by the only goal of the game last Tuesday night. Meanwhile, the Gills were also losing – 1-0 at Plymouth. In previous meetings, the Shrimps’ record against the Kentish club is poor. They lost their first ever match close to the River Medway five-nil. Since then, they have lost another three; drawn three and only one ever won, ten years ago back in North Lancashire. In four previous visits to Priestfield in all, Morecambe have only taken a single point home with them again. So the omens weren’t good. However, with three league games played so far, Steve Evans’ team has yet to pick-up three points and consequently were eighteenth in the table prior to three o’clock having drawn two and lost one of their three League One games so far.
What can we say about the Gills’ Manager which hasn’t been said before? This gentleman – who could be charitably described as a Larger Than Life Glaswegian character – can probably be summed-up by the fact that he wasn’t allowed to stand on the touchline today. He was banned by the FA during the week and fined a thousand pounds for abusing a match official earlier this month. Ironically he did this during the only game his team have won this season. This was against Crawley in the League Cup, which the Gills finally won on penalties. I think the kindest thing to say about Steve Evans is: if you ever manage to discover which Charm School he graduated from, don’t go there: it’s obviously not very good. But what did he have to say about today’s opponent 24 hours before his team actually played them? Strangely, he referred back to Gillingham’s very first game of the season when doing so:
“Morecambe are meticulously organised and work so hard, and one more important factor is that they’ve got some very good footballers. It will be tough tomorrow. The first thing you have to have is respect for all opponents. Morecambe will be organised and disciplined. We had an excellent performance against Lincoln. If we win tomorrow it becomes a very good start. We need to get three points, but it will be difficult. This is a good test for us.”
Morecambe’s former player and current First Team Coach Diarmuid O’Carroll – who was not banned from the touchline today – said prior to the game:
“It’s a very, very tough game. Gillingham are proven, they know what they’re all about, they’re very, very difficult to play against. They’re a very physical side, they’re bought into their way of playing; their style of play; it’s a tough place to go. Everyone’s different in terms of their style, but you know that Steve Evans’ going to have his team organised; they’re going to be hard to beat; they’re going to fight and run for him so if we get any points down there, they’re going to be earned and we’ll deserve it coming back up the road.”
The game gave Vadaine Oliver the opportunity to show Morecambe fans what we have been missing since he left to be closer to his family a couple of years ago. With seventeen League goals and nineteen altogether last season, he was the club’s leading scorer. In my opinion, he would make the perfect foil for Cole Stockton which Morecambe Manager Steven Robinson hopes Courtney Duffus – signed from Bromley Town this week – will prove to be. Dan Adshead had been signed on-loan from Premiership Norwich City for the Gills this week and he went straight into the starting line-up for Mr Evans’ side.
Morecambe named both newcomer Courtney Duffus and Scott Wootten on the bench today. Kyle Letheren was injured in the warm-up before the Rotherham game last Tuesday and Stephen Robinson thus named the Shrimps’ legendary stopper and current goalkeeping Coach – Barry Roche – as cover for young Jökull Andrésson.
It was overcast but dry as the game started. Both sets of players Took the Knee and the home side went straight onto the front foot. With barely a minute played, Ryan Jackson received a lucky ricochet, took the ball past Greg Leigh and slid the ball across to Mustafa Carayol, who missed an excellent chance with a shot which went wide of the target from only six yards out. He wasn’t going to be denied for long, though. Just four minutes had been played when Vadaine Oliver drew a foul from Anthony O’Connor. Kyle Dempsey slid the ball to Carayol and he struck a thunderbolt of a strike past Jökull Andrésson from all of thirty-five yards. The visitors responded well and Cole Stockton had a shot blocked at the other end before Ryan Cooney blasted the rebound high and wide. There was a decent shout for a penalty to the Shrimps for a foul on Adam Phillips just a minute later but Referee Tom Neild wasn’t interested. Arthur Gnahoua tested Jamie Cumming in the home goal with a shot after ten minutes which went straight at him. Then Jack Tucker did well to head a dangerous ball away from the Gills’ penalty area just before Cole reached it only to see Josh McPake’s low effort comfortably saved by Cumming with fourteen minutes on the clock. The visitors continued to look lively despite a couple of attacks from the hosts but the second key moment of the game arrived after 24 Minutes. Stockton had his back to goal when he received the ball on the edge of the penalty area; spun and took on the home defence in the way he did at Ipswich two weeks ago. It ended with the same result: he scored with another outstanding goal as he wriggled his way to a point where he could squeeze the ball past the goalkeeper low into the corner of the net. That was basically it until half time but Morecambe probably looked marginally the better and more convincing side.
Gillingham changed their tactics early in the second period. They initially backed-off and tried to play on the break as Morecambe were encouraged to press further up the field. Leigh galloped up the left flank early doors , received the ball from Cole and then put in a superb cross only to find no man in a red shirt in the vicinity. He got the ball over again a minute or so later to see it headed away for a corner kick. From this, Phillips slung over a cross which Skipper Sam Lavelle headed into the side netting. With the sun beginning to shine and the home team continuing to back off, substitute Wes McDonald tried his luck after 56 minutes with a wild shot which was way off target. With an hour played, Jackson made good progress for the hosts and slung over a cross which Oliver headed virtually straight at Morecambe’s goalkeeper. Then Cole tried his luck again almost immediately afterwards at the other end but missed this time. It was around about this period that the Gills seemed to stir themselves and actually start to play on the front foot. As they did so, the noise at the Priestfield suddenly also went up a notch. Carayol tried an ambitious overhead kick which came to nothing before substitute Danny Lloyd-McGoldrick forced a decent save from the visiting keeper after 73 minutes. Then, four minutes later, Andrésson was fouled by Oliver but instead of taking his time and waiting for his team-mates to regroup, he tried to immediately play the ball out with a pass which went straight into touch. From this, the always bothersome long throw which the Gills used to their advantage throughout the game fell to Lloyd-McGoldrick – and down he went under a challenge from O’Connor which may or may not have been a foul. But Referee Tom Neild – after quite a long pause – adjudged that it was and awarded a penalty. Oliver belted this straight down the middle against his former employers – and that was that. Gillingham shut-up shop in the cynical and tedious way that all Steve Evans’ teams always do and the visitors never really looked like they had the nous to get back into the game.
So Morecambe’s very poor record against the Gills continued. This was a disappointing result today. Morecambe were a bit naïve against a team which looked pretty pedestrian and frankly nothing out of the ordinary. They need to use the ball better and not give away needless opportunities. The winning goal for the hosts came about from a poor clearance from our young goalkeeper which he didn’t need to make. He’d have probably got away with it in League Two. But not any more…
Gillingham’s first league win of the season propelled them into fifteenth place in the table, one point and a single position ahead of the Shrimps.
Gillingham: 1 Jamie Cumming; 2 Ryan Jackson; 5 Max Ehmer; 6 Jack Tucker; 14 Robbie McKenzie; 8 Kyle Dempsey; 4 Stuart O’Keefe; 11 Ben Reeves (10 Olly Lee 62’); 16 Dan Adshead (17 Danny Lloyd-McGoldrick 50’); 24 Mustafa Carayol; 19 Vadaine Oliver (Y).
Subs Not Used: 12 Aaron Chapman; 18 Rhys Bennett; 23 Harvey Lintott; 27 Bailey Akehurst.
Morecambe: 20 Jökull Andrésson; 21 Ryan Cooney (Y); 5 Sam Lavelle (C) (Y); 4 Anthony O’Connor; 3 Greg Leigh; 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 6 Callum Jones (19 Shane McLaughlin 68’); 18 Adam Phillips (28 Courtney Duffus 81’); 24 Arthur Gnahoua; 9 Cole Stockton; 11 Josh McPake (7 Wes McDonald 45’).
Subs Not Used: 30 Barry Roche; 15 Ryan Delaney; 25 Alfie McCalmont; 31 Scott Wootten.
Ref: Tom Neild.
Att: Unknown – about 100 from Morecambe. It’s a long way back and seems even longer when you’ve just lost…
