The Crowley Effect- Colchester United Win at Morecambe.
The last time Colchester United visited Morecambe was almost exactly three years ago: on January 21st 2021, they lost three-nil at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium. This was the Derek Adams’ Shrimps’ promotion season and the U’s had already lost the return fixture as well – 1-2 in Essex just a few weeks previously. Morecambe’s excellent record against United – eleven games played; four won and only a single loss – continued last year, when they won at the Colchester Community Stadium by three goals to one in the first fixture of the season featuring these two clubs.
But that was then – and this is now. Lots of things have changed for both sides in the three months which have elapsed since JJ McKiernan scored a hat-trick against them on the day and James Connolly was sent-off for Derek Adams’ men. Derek had gone; James has followed him and JJ is suffering from a long-term injury. For Colchester, Manager of the time Ben Garner has been sacked; new boss Matthew Etherington has come and gone and the peripatetic Crowley Brothers – Danny and Nicky – have taken-over. This is because the club from Essex found themselves struggling against relegation at the start of this season and – despite a brief improvement last year – have slipped back towards the Drop Zone anew. They started this afternoon’s game in twenty-second position in League Two; just five points above seemingly doomed Sutton United but having played a game more. United were nine places and twelve points behind today’s opponents, who have played two games fewer.
This was only the second time the Cowley Brothers have taken charge of the U’s. Already, they have persuaded former players such as winger Harry Anderson and as well as midfielder Alaistair Smith from former employees Lincoln City plus striker Conor Wilkinson and defender Riley Harbottle to join their attempt to stay in League Two this season. Their new Manager – Danny Cowley – said this prior to the long trip from Essex to complete today’s fixture:
“I think that Morecambe as a football club has a lot to admire. They did brilliantly to get into League One; had the tough feeling of a relegation. (They are) a group that had a really strong start to the season. They obviously lost their Manager. Probably a little bit ahead of us because their new Manager’s been in for a longer period of time. I think they are a team that can mix the way that they play to win games in lots of different ways. They can really dominate the ball and play through teams – I’ve seen them do that really, really well. I’ve also seen them being a real threat on the counter-attack as well. A good group of players and very well coached. We understand the challenge.”
Morecambe Manager Ged Brannan had this to say about the challenge facing his players prior to the game:
“They’ve got new managers in, and they’re doing really well. They’ll be a totally different animal against us on Saturday. We need to concentrate on ourselves on Saturday, come out with our game plan and we will be okay. From the first whistle, we have got to be right up for it.”
The weather in north Lancashire has been awful for most of this week. Storm Isha and Storm Jocelyn’s battered the area and caused the waterlogging of the pitch at the Maz which caused Tuesday night’s game against Crewe to be postponed. The last couple of days – by sharp contrast – have been sunny, dry and bright. And so it was again this morning – but by kick-off time this afternoon, the clouds had gathered again and although the rain held off, it was grey and overcast throughout the match.
What ensued was basically a game of two halves. During the first one, Colchester’s tactics soon became clear. Here was a physically large team who were prepared to leave a foot in here; make a crafty push there; take dives when it suited them; feign head injuries when they wanted to get the match stopped – etc etc etc. It’s cynical; it’s not good to watch but it can be effective if you have a weak referee. And in EFL newcomer Mr Daniel Middleton, the U’s got all the help they could possibly have hoped for from the man with the shaving foam and the whistle. He was absolutely hopeless this afternoon. He repeatedly indulged the play-acting; let countless niggly fouls go and was constantly duped by the pretend head wounds – only one of which was actually genuine all afternoon. If this officious, pompous parody of what a decent football referee is the best the non-league has to offer, god help us all… The most bizarre decision he made all match was during the first half, when Charlie Brown had managed to get around a much bigger defender despite that player’s obvious attempts to use his sheer weight to shove him away. It seemed to me that he was clearly fouled as he shaped to take a shot in the away penalty area and Mr Middleton duly blew his whistle. And then gave an uncontested dropped ball to United. How does that work exactly? (Ged Brannan gives the answer at the end of this report.)
In the key moment of the entire game, the Referee blew for a free-kick to the visitors after just over twenty-five minutes. The tricky and ever-threatening Jayden Fevrier – quick, strong and skilful throughout his time on the pitch during which he gave debutant Kayden Harrack a truly torrid time – dived in a promising position to the right of the home penalty area from his point of view. This allowed Arthur Read to produce the one moment of real quality of the entire pretty tedious ninety-odd minutes. He struck a simply unstoppable dead-ball shot into the net past a wall and goalkeeper rooted to the spot. It was a tremendous goal. So that was basically that for the first half: the men in the yellow shirts pushed their luck; were indulged by a useless referee and produced a gem of a goal into the bargain.
The second half was a totally different matter. Morecambe didn’t turn-up until late on and Colchester were the better team most of the way through it. Around the hour mark, they were passing it around as if they were Manchester City – and they’re certainly nowhere remotely that good. They were faster to the ball; more committed in their approach and they clearly had a plan which they stuck to: to play the ball on the deck through the Morecambe midfield whenever they had it and constantly to press their opponents in the red shirts when they didn’t. The Shrimps, on the other hand, played like a team that had never met before. They looked like the hotchpotch collection of odds and ends that Ged Brannan has managed to scrape together during the last few weeks. Our Ged talked about a `game plan’ before the match. There was precious little sign of one to be brutally honest. And when you saw centre half Farrend Rawson running about like a headless chicken during the dying moments in the centre forward berth as Jacob Bedeau filled-in as a left winger, you really had to wonder what was going on. Repeatedly, Morecambe struggled to both clear their lines and play out from the back. Archie Mair’s kicking was erratic throughout. To be fair to him though, he had few other options – United quickly closed-down all and any attempts to play the ball out from the back with their high press. And the Shrimps simply had no answer to it. Having said that, they did have chances. Yann Songo’o had the ball in the back of the net after 55 minutes only for the linesman’s flags to spoil the celebrations in the home stands. Then Bedeau headed wide at the far post as the ball shot right across Owen Goodman’s goal from the Shrimps’ right at the end of the match: it seemed easier for him to have actually nodded it home. But as Mair didn’t have a serious threat to deal with at the other end, you just had the feeling that this was a game that Morecambe were going to lose.
And so it proved. I don’t think anybody in the side played well today. In fact, the entire dreary afternoon could be summed-up in just one incident which happened within a minute of the re-start. Jake Taylor made a good run through the heart of the U’s defence and was stopped by a foul so blatant by Harbottle that even the incompetent in the black outfit had to give a penalty kick. Charlie Brown shaped-up to take it but then gave the ball to Ged Garner instead. Here was a golden opportunity for our new loanee Leader of the Line to open his account for the Shrimps. But he blew his big chance: Owen Goodman made a great save for the visitors but the Barrow man gave him the chance to do so with a less than convincing shot.
So that was that – a disappointing outcome to a precious opportunity to move decisively forwards this season. If Morecambe had taken the chance to extend their winning streak against Colchester to four in a row, they would be Play-Off contenders tonight. Instead, they slipped to an anonymous fifteenth position in the League Two table. Colchester’s first win under their new management pushed them up a single place to twenty-first; leap-frogging Doncaster Rovers as they did so. Danny Cowley would be by far the happiest of the two managers tonight. The two new players he introduced from the start plus the two others he brought on later helped him carry-out a game plan which he had clearly got absolutely spot-on.
This is what Our Ged had to say about this feeble effort from his men:
“Very disappointed to be honest. We weren’t up to scratch first half. We just weren’t at it anywhere on the pitch: we had players jogging about which isn’t acceptable. It just weren’t acceptable – the tempo wasn’t there; the passing wasn’t there We should have had a penalty in the first half; it’s stone wall. How the Referees hasn’t given that I don’t know. He said there was two balls on the pitch. Well, two weeks; three weeks ago there were two balls on the pitch and they gave a goal against us. There’s no consistency about it – it’s absolutely terrible. Our home form’s dropped big time – I don’t know why. We look nervous in front of our home fans at the moment; we’ve got to shake that off; we’ve got to get a win from somewhere and kick-on.”
Morecambe: 30 Archie Mair; 4 Jacob Bedeau (Y); 5 Farrend Rawson (Y) (C); 6 Yann Songo’o (23 Max Melbourne 60’); 8 Joe Adams (17 Cammy Smith 83’); 9 Ged Garner (33 Saul Fox 83’); 14 Jordan Slew (7 Brandon Barker 45’); 15 Chris Stokes; 18 Jake Taylor; 20 Charlie Brown; 22 Kayden Harrack (Y) (3 David Tutonda 60‘).
Substitutes not used: 21 Adam Smith; 8 Oscar Threlkeld.
Colchester United: 1 Owen Goodman; 3 Ellis Iandolo; 5 Connor Hall (C); 10 Noah Chilvers (8 Conor Wilkinson (Y) 61’); 13 Cameron McGeehan; 14 Tom Hopper (24 John Akinde 87’); 16 Arthur Read; 22 Riley Harbottle (6 Tom Dallison-Lisbon (Y) 71’); 26 Jayden Richardson; 27 Alistair Smith (7 Matt Jay 87’); 42 Jayden Fevrier (17 Harry Anderson 71’).
Substitutes not used: 11 Owura Edwards; 29 Sam Hornby.
Ref: Daniel Middleton.
Att: 3,383 (180 from Colchester.)
