Mariners All At Sea At Morecambe

Morecambe entertained Grimsby Town on Saturday at the Globe Arena looking for revenge for their opening match of the season at Blundell Park when the Mariners celebrated their first game back in the EFL for six years by beating them by two goals to nil. At that time, Paul Hurst – the Manager who steered the Lincolnshire team back into the League – was still in charge. In October 2016, however, he departed for pastures new at Shrewsbury Town and Grimsby arrived in Morecambe today with ex-Solihull Moors Manager Marcus Bignot in charge since the end of last year. Under his direction, the Mariners have showed mercurial form: capable of winning 1-3 against high-flying Carlisle United one minute but being hammered 5-0 by Dave Artell`s Crewe the next. Having said that, the twelfth position they commanded before the game is not a bad place to be as they find their collective feet back in the relative Big Time.

Morecambe could barely have got off to a better start once the game kicked-off. Dead ball specialist Captain Michael Rose took a clearly carefully rehearsed corner after just ninety seconds and Lee Molyneux let fly from all of twenty yards to beat James McKeown in the visitors` goal all ends up to put the Shrimps into an early lead. After this, though, Grimsby dominated the early stages of the match and Barry Roche earned his corn yet again in the eighth minute when he kept out a header from Gavin Gunning after good approach play by Tom Bolarinwa down the Mariners` right. The visitors had the next half-decent chance as well when Danny Andrew narrowly missed the Morecambe goal with a free kick after a quarter of an hour. The visitors didn`t have it all their own way though and at the other end, an Andy Fleming shot was bundled off the line by Chris Clements after 37 minutes. The half ended with chances for both teams: under pressure, Jamey Osborne screwed a shot just wide after 42 minutes but the half ended with pin-ball in the Grimsby penalty area and half chances for Kevin Ellison and Antony Evans before an excellent save from a Lee Molyneux free kick by McKeown in injury time.

The second half kicked-off with the squally rain which had incessantly blown across the ground right from the off showing no sign of relenting. Morecambe had the first chance of the re-start but Paul Mullin`s attempt which ended up in the net after 49 minutes following a brilliant turn by Fleming was ruled-out for off-side after the Mariners had again failed to clear their lines effectively. Ellison was the next home forward to test the Grimsby defence and but for a fantastic block by Captain Shaun Pearson after 58 minutes, the Shrimps would almost certainly have increased their lead. Mullin – in a hot vein of form currently – had the next chance, drawing an excellent stop from McKeown with an hour on the clock. He got even closer after 63 minutes but he headed Evans’ pin-point cross against the bar when it might have been easier to score. Grimsby hit back with a couple of efforts around the sixty-sixth minute, the closest when Pearson was unable to keep his effort down following a corner and his shot sailed harmlessly way over the Morecambe bar. But Mullin was soon knocking on the door once more and the Mariners` goalkeeper yet again did well to keep him out after seventy-seven minutes. Morecambe were disappointed again in injury time at the end of the half when Ellison turned substitute Rhys Turner`s shot which had hit a post into the net but the goal was once again disallowed for offside.

By the time the referee blew for full-time, Morecambe had done enough to win the game and the three points allowed them to leap-frog their opponents into thirteenth place as Grimsby slipped to fourteenth.

Morecambe: 1 Barry Roche; 2 Liam Wakefield; 5 Ryan Edwards; 3 Aaron McGowan; 16 Alex Whitmore; 17 Andy Fleming; 10 Lee Molyneux; 24 Michael Rose(C); 11 Kevin Ellison; 21 Antony Evans (15 Aaron Wildig 67 mins); 7 Paul Mullin (18 Rhys Turner 83 mins).


Subs not used: 12 Danijel Nizic; 14 Luke Conlan; 27 Luke Jordan; 27 Luke Jordan; 25 Ben Hedley.

Grimsby Town: 1 James McKeown; 3 Danny Andrew; 5 Shaun Pearson (C); 12 Zak Mills; 18 Tom Bolarinwa (27 Adi Yussuf 81 mins); 22 Danny Collins; 28 Gavin Gunning (Y) (2 Ben Davies 78 mins); 29 Calum Dyson; 31 Chris Clements; 32 Jamey Osborne (33 Akwasi Asante 64 mins); 35 Sam Jones.

Subs not used: 8 Craig Disley; 20 Andrew Boyce; 26 Brendon Comley; 34 Luke Maxwell.

Ref:Darren Handley