Nothing in the Bank at the Bank.
It’s a real shame when a football report should be overshadowed by the disgraceful scenes which occurred last Saturday at the Mazuma Stadium. Those of us who were there saw an object being thrown from the Bolton end and hitting our goalkeeper, Adam Smith. He then picked-up another object – apparently a cigarette lighter – and handed both missiles to Referee Ross Joyce. A rumpus on the touchline then ensued and following talks with the Bolton Manager Ian Evatt, Referee Joyce took all players off the pitch. This prompted a wide-scale invasion of the playing surface by visiting so-called `fans’. One of these idiots – obviously drunk – made even more of a fool of himself by running down the pitch and then slipping in the centre circle and falling over in a heap. All this as Morecambe fans looked on and did not respond. Nobody from our ranks ran onto the field. Nobody from our ranks threw anything at opposition players. This is a matter of fact which I saw with my own eyes.
I was thus astounded that – when EFL on Quest covered the game later on, not even one of the things I have just described was mentioned. Instead, one of the presenters – Clinton Morrison – was given a soapbox in which he branded Morecambe FA as racist over an alleged incident in the crowd where Ian Evatt claims one of his players was racially abused. This may or may not have happened. So far, there is no proof one way or the other. But for the television programme to find the club guilty of this offence without any proof whatsoever is absolutely Out Of Order. The fact that they didn’t even mention the violent disorder indulged in by morons from Bolton which was certainly filmed by their cameras is in itself a dereliction on their primary duty to report events in the real world accurately, objectively and without pre-judgement. Shame on them for not doing so. The local police made this statement about the events yesterday:
“We have today arrested a 61-year-old man from Morecambe on suspicion of racially aggravated public order and he remains in custody. Other lines of enquiry relating to the allegations of racism are being developed and we continue to take the matter extremely seriously. A number of Bolton fans who were arrested for assault, pitch encroachment or being drunk and disorderly have been bailed, released under investigation or given penalty notices. One (Bolton supporter) has been charged with pitch encroachment and is due to appear before magistrates in Lancaster on March 1st. We are also looking into two separate allegations of assaults following the match. Anyone with any information should contact police on 101 quoting log 470 of February 5th.”
If you have footage of any of the things which happened – send it to them. I hope that – if the allegations of racist abuse by Morecambe fans are investigated and then dismissed – EFL on Quest will withdraw the accusations it made on Saturday night.
I’m not going to hold my breath though…
Anyway – Morecambe travelled to Lincoln today to face City for the fifteenth time in all competitions. They have only beaten the Imps three times before – the last time in September at the Maz – but lost seven out of fifteen previous meetings. Lincoln were in eighteenth place in the League One table at the start of proceedings but – crucially – have played two fewer league games than the Shrimps. Morecambe were worse-off by two points which meant that if they could actually win at Sincil Bank tonight, the Shrimps would overtake their hosts in the standings. City have lost their last two League One matches and three out of five altogether; winning the other two. They have the worst home record of any team in League One, however, having won just three games and losing eight so far.
Morecambe, on the other hand, have drawn two and won one of their last five fixtures. They should – and would – have won on Saturday if they hadn’t lost their momentum during the long delay that the riotous behaviour of the visiting hordes caused. But that was then and this was now…
It had been dry and at times sunny in Lincolnshire prior to the match tonight. Reflecting partly on Saturday’s controversy at home, Manager Stephen Robinson said before the game:
“We look like a team that believes in each other now. We look like a team that has got a bit of momentum and we can’t let Saturday’s disappointment derail us. Coming back on the pitch after the break in play, the weather was atrocious. That’s not us making excuses – we could have controlled the game better. Overall, it is hard for me to be critical about a bunch of boys who give absolutely everything for me and this football Club. I think people can see how hard the lads are working. I think Lincoln are a good side, they are a good footballing side and have stuck to their principles throughout the season. They are similar to ourselves, they have had a lot of injuries and have been unfortunate in a few games but I rate them. They have an excellent manager in Michael Appleton, so it will be a tough game with both sides wanting to play football the right way in a great stadium with a big atmosphere.”
Trevor Carson was fit enough to retake goalkeeping duties as Adam Smith dropped to the beck and Ryan McLaughlin was not named in the squad tonight because he has a hamstring injury which will make him unavailable for at least four weeks. Robbo also put Dylan Connolly into the starting eleven for the first time at the expense of Arthur Gnahoua, who was named as a substitute. For the hosts, Manager Michael Appleton promoted Joe Walsh; Max Sanders and Chris McGuire to his starting eleven. His simple statement before the game was:
“The reality is if we do the business in these next five or six games, we know that we’re more than capable of beating sides at the top of the table and that will put us in a really comfortable position. We have to make sure that we pick up points over the next five or six games and make sure we have a strong end to the season.”
Lincoln kicked-off after both teams Took the Knee and Morecambe seemed to be pressing well at least at the start of the game. Ryan Cooney, however, made a stray pass from his right touchline after four minutes. Morgan Whittaker pounced on it and tried but failed to lob Trevor Carson from all of thirty yards. Immediately, there was an overlap on the Lincoln left and Cohen Bramall played a low cross right across the area. Fortunately for the visitors, nobody in a red striped shirt was there to get on the end of it. Then Regan Poole played a short pass back towards his goalkeeper on the Imps’ left. Cole the Goal was on it in a flash and played his way forward into the penalty area but his eventual shot was blocked and then cleared by the home defence. Seven minutes had been played when Jonah Ayunga did well to make progress on the Morecambe right but his final effort – a weak shot – was well wide of the target. The visitors, however, were looking vulnerable and static at the back every time Lincoln played forward and after just nine minutes, they fell behind. A seemingly innocuous ball played low just right of centre from the Imps’ point of view was cleverly back-heeled by Anthony Scully to TJ Eyoma, who played it back to him as he ran forward and sold a clever dummy before taking a shot which Morecambe Captain Anthony O’Connor did well to block on the line. Sadly for him, the ball fell into the path of an onrushing Whittaker, who swept it home.
Toumani Diagouraga almost played-in the Goal Machine after seventeen minutes but his forward pass was just over-hit. The home team responded by sweeping back down the pitch and scoring again. This time, they worked the ball effectively down their right flank, passed the ball right across the field until Scully had it on their left. He waited for a run from deep by left-back Morgan Whittaker to take the ball further in and score with a low shot from an acute angle. Both goals were sloppy from the visitors’ point of view and their failure to close their opponents down properly or take the game to them made a team not used to winning in front of its own fans look pretty good. Up front, Stockton and Ayunga huffed and puffed as Dylan Connolly ran around to very little effect. As is so often the case this season, too much was asked of `Toums’ in the middle – and too little was provided yet again by Adam Phillips. For me, his match was summed-up in just one incident. After twenty-six minutes, he did well to take the ball off Regan Poole but Poole’s recovery to overtake him and win it back far too easily said everything about which player was more committed to the cause. Time and again, Jacob Bedeau won and used the ball intelligently at the back but – finding no options nearby for him to choose – was reduced to lumping the ball forward towards Cole and Jonah and seeing City win back possession more often than not. In fact, thirty-seven minutes were on the clock when Josh Griffiths in the home goal had to make any sort of save. He easily fielded a weak header from Greg Leigh, whose performance again throughout this evening was exemplary. It took until injury time for the visitors to win their first corner kick of the game and that basically summed-up their play in the first half: weak; disjointed, uncommitted by too many players and way off the pace.
They needed to up their game by several notches when the second half started. Robbo took the ineffectual Dylan Connolly off at half time, replaced him with Alfie McCalmont and also changed the shape to three at the back with two wingbacks. Immediately, they looked – and played – better. For the first time, the Imps weren’t having things all their own way. Morecambe dominated the play early doors. But still there was no penetration and Stockton and Ayunga occasionally got in each other’s way. After fifty two minutes, though, Jonah was nearly found by an excellent forward pass on the Lincoln left. But Poole appeared from nowhere at speed to clear the danger. Two minutes later, Ayunga was fouled; Phillips took a clever free-kick to his right where Cooney’s lob forwards was beautifully chested down by Jonah to Toumani who fairly walloped home a volley from just outside the penalty areas to reduce the arrears. It was a really well-worked goal and a fantastic strike into the bargain. In the meantime, the Imps offered little as their crowd fell noticeably silent. After an hour, a cross from their right was just too high for Chris McGuire to reach but other than that, the home team offered virtually nothing. 62 minutes were on the clock when the visitors should have equalised. Under renewed pressure, the Imps were struggling to clear the ball. It was played in panic back to Griffiths, who took a wild swing at it which hit the Goal Machine and bounced into the path of Ayunga. Jonah should have walloped it but he tried to place the ball, giving the goalkeeper the opportunity to redeem his earlier error by pulling off a truly fantastic save. Morecambe continued to play on the front foot but they never had a better chance to equalise. Indeed, the hosts could have gone even further ahead when substitute Ben House’s virtual first contribution to the game was to make a fine run down the Lincoln left and force a tremendous save from Carson from an acute angle. This was after 79 minutes. Six minutes later, Morecambe were again unlucky not to equalise. First of all, Leigh received the ball on the Shrimps’ left, played a long cross which was headed-on by substitute Jonathan Obika to Shane McLaughlin on the right. Shane’s instantly played the ball nto the centre where Imps’ defender Max Sanders swung a leg at it. It shot off him behind for a corner but on another occasion, it would have gone straight into the back of the net: he hadn’t a clue what he was doing. Greg took the resulting corner from the Morecambe right and an inrushing Obika’s header at the far post was cleared off the line before Alfie’s follow-up shot was also blocked.
So you could say that Lincoln rode their luck tonight. I would say, though, that Morecambe threw this game away. You can’t give any team a two-goal start and expect to win in any league, let alone League One. The Shrimps were by far the better team for the last 45 minutes – but a football match lasts for 90…
The latest loss saw tonight’s opponents in a far more comfortable position in the table – five points better off and with two fewer games played then Morecambe in seventeenth position. Morecambe remain obstinately in 21st. Results elsewhere – with none of the teams around them winning and Doncaster losing at home again – meant that little changed at the bottom of the pile.
Lincoln City: 1 Josh Griffiths; 2 Regan Poole; 6 Max Sanders; 7 Morgan Whittaker (17 Ben House 74’); 10 Chris McGuire (Y); 11 Anthony Scully (8 Liam Cullen 88’); 15 Cohen Bramall; 16 Joe Walsh (Y); 18 Conor McGrandles (C); 22 T J Eyoma (20 Brooke Norton-Cuffy 82’); 27 John Marquis.
Subs Not Used: 19 Lewis Fiorini; 21 Lasse Sorensen;
Morecambe: 30 Trevor Carson; 3 Greg Leigh; 4 Anthony O’Connor (C): 5 Jacob Bedeau (Y); 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 9 Cole Stockton; 11 Dylan Connolly (25 Alfie McCalmont 45’); 17 Jonah Ayunga (14 Jonathan Obika 66’); 18 Adam Phillips; 19 Shane McLoughlin; 21 Ryan Cooney.
Subs Not Used: 41 Adam Smith; 24 Arthur Gnahoua; 27 Ousmane Fané; 28 Courtney Duffus; 31 Rhys Bennett.
Ref: Anthony Backhouse.
Att: 7,571 (140 FROM Morecambe)
