Morecambe Founder in Grimsby Storm
Morecambe made the long journey from West to East and left the Irish Sea behind in favour of the Humber Estuary today. In Cleethorpes, they took-on Ian Holloway’s Grimsby Town in the hope of at least retaining the eight-point lead they enjoyed when they arrived over Stevenage right at the bottom of the EFL. Having leapfrogged Macclesfield Town last Tuesday night by beating them 2-0 at the Globe Arena, the Shrimps’ recent league record was two won and two drawn of their last five games. Their opponents’ record was identical but the Mariners were a whole six places higher and eight points more than Morecambe themselves at start of play. As Morecambe were winning at home last Tuesday, Grimsby excelled themselves with a 2-3 win away at Colchester United, with Charles Vernam scoring a hat-trick for them. Grimsby have only won four of their last fifteen encounters as opposed to the Shrimps’ six but they took all three points with a nil-two win in North Lancashire last August.
Storm Dennis has been sweeping across Britain since yesterday and the biggest worry prior to the game was that it might not go ahead at all. But – with the Mariners’ various official sites insisting there were no problems locally – the match kicked-off on time.
In predictably very blustery conditions, the visitors had the first two chances within the opening couple of minutes. John O’Sullivan first of all missed the target from an Adam Phillips cross and then Cole Stockton was set-up by O’Sullivan only for home custodian James McKeown to save without too much trouble. Aaron Wildig was next to try his luck after eight minutes: his effort from Phillips’ pass also missed the target. Over ten minutes had been played when the hosts had their first attempt on goal. Josh Benson picked-out Charles Vernam from a corner but his header didn’t trouble Shrimps’ goalkeeper Christoffer Mafoumbi as it sailed quite comfortably over the bar. Wildig then did the approach work before slipping the ball to Jordan Cranston for a trade-mark shot from long distance which also missed the target. This was after eighteen minutes; three minutes later, Phillips blasted Sully’s pass over the bar from a long way out as well. Vernam repeated the feat for the Mariners with twenty-six minutes played. O’Sullivan sent another shot over the bar with thirty-three minutes on the clock and then Vernam turned provider a couple of minutes later, setting-up Luke Hendrie for a shot which Mafoumbi was forced to save. James Hanson headed Billy Clarke’s cross wide after 41 minutes and that was basically it in a good game to watch despite the bad weather.
Reversing the pattern of the first half, the home team had the first two chances once the game re-started. Vernam’s shot from Hendries’ cross was blocked by the Shrimps’ defence after 47 minutes as Town claimed the ball had crossed the goal-line to no effect and then Clarke was similarly denied by the men in the red strip when played-in by Elliot Grandin. O’Sullivan missed narrowly with a shot after 51 minutes and efforts by Luke Waterfall, James Hanson and Elliott Whitehouse either missed or were blocked before the hour was up. Beyond it, Mafoumbi became the busier of the two goalkeepers, keeping out Vernam and Benson. The home team came close with 67 minutes played when Matthew Pollock’s header from a Benson cross went only just wide. A goal seemed to be in the offing and it duly arrived after 69 minutes. Vernam got on his bike to chase a long ball from Clarke; Mafoumbi in the visitors’ goal got his wires crossed, coming for the ball and then changing his mind too late as the Town striker managed to squeeze the ball past him with a shot from an acute angle. The Morecambe goalkeeper did better after 73 minutes when he saved Hendrie’s powerful long-range shot. Morecambe were offering little going forward at this juncture but after Derek Adams shuffled his pack with three changes before the eightieth minute, his team slipped even further behind.
Eighty minutes precisely were on the clock when Vernan won a free-kick in a good position for Grimsby. Benson stepped-up and his direct shot from this took a deflection off the Morecambe wall, bounced under the crossbar and went into the net to put the Mariners two-nil to the good. It was an unlucky goal to concede but – to their considerable credit – the Shrimps tried to pull the situation out of the fire. Town conceded an indirect free-kick during the second minute of injury time. Phillips took it and simply hammered the ball past the wall and also past McKeown into the net to make the final score 2-1 to the hosts.
After the match, Mr Adams bemoaned his team’s inability to take the numerous opportunities they created during the first half. He also complained that an attempt by Cole Stockton was frustrated by a Grimsby hand which should have led to a free-kick and a possible sending off. Overall, though, he pronounced himself `satisfied’ with his side’s overall performance: `we just have to finish better in the opponents’ half.’
He will have felt a lot happier, despite the loss, that closest rivals Macclesfield went down at home to Exeter, 2-3. Even better, rock-bottom Stevenage made it eight league defeats in a row when Salford City took all three points with a one-goal victory at Broadhall Way. So Morecambe remain where they were before the match: twenty-second. Grimsby, meanwhile, went up one position to fifteenth as a result of their double over the Shrimps.
Grimsby Town: 1 James McKeown (C); 2 Luke Hendrie; 6 Luke Waterfall; 25 Matthew Pollock; 33 Anthony Driscoll-Glennon; 10 Elliott Whitehouse (7 Matt Green 67’); 20 Josh Benson; 12 Elliot Grandin (15 Harry Clifton 80’); 18 Charles Vernam; 9 James Hanson; 16 Billy Clarke (21 James Tilley 87’).
Subs not used: 23 Sam Russell; 19 Max Wright; 5 Ludvig Öhman; 3 Bradley Garmston.
Morecambe: 37 Christoffer Mafoumbi; 30 Ryan Cooney; 7 John O’Sullivan (19 Carlos Mendes-Gomes 76’); 33 Jordan Cranston; 5 Steven Old; 16 Sam Lavelle (C); 14 Tom Brewitt; 31 Adam Phillips; 15 Aaron Wildig (29 Jordan Slew 76’); 32 Toumani Diagouraga (10 A-Jay Leitch-Smith 75’); 9 Cole Stockton.
Subs not used: 21 Mark Halstead; 27 Christian Mbulu; 4 Alex Kenyon.
Ref: Trevor Kettle.
4704 (63)
