Chairboys collapse at Morecambe
The football team of High Wycombe wandered its way to the north Lancashire seaside today with the hope of keeping pace with the Play-Off Pack at the top of League One. Wanderers arrived at the Maz in eighth place in the division but on the back of only one win and two draws in their last five league games. In fact, since long-serving Manager Gareth Ainsworth departed for Pastures New last February, Matt Bloomfield’s team have only won three of ten league games and lost four of them. The most recent of these wins was on Easter Monday, where the Chairboys overcame seemingly doomed Forest Green Rovers at home by two goals to nil. In twenty-one previous meetings, Wanderers have beaten Morecambe ten times and lost just five. In League One, Morecambe threw away a two goal half-time lead last season at Adams Park and lost 4-3. But the Shrimps were victorious here by the odd goal of five last season and drew 1-1 last October in Buckinghamshire in today’s reverse fixture.
Derek Adams’ men started this afternoon’s game with an even poorer recent record than their opponents: just two points collected from their last five matches, most recently on Monday at Portsmouth where they played really well. However, they were five points adrift of safety prior to kick-off and have played more games than any other club in the division. So, with four games left including today’s, wins and nothing less are required if Morecambe are to stand any chance at all of avoiding relegation for the first time in their 103 year existence.
Wycombe’s Manager Matt Bloomfield said this prior to the game:
“Morecambe will be a dangerous team to play against. They got a good point at Fratton Park last week: nil-nil away at Portsmouth isn’t an easy result to come by. We know they have their strengths like any team in our league. We have to guard against their strengths and try and exploit their weaknesses. They are a good team. Derek Adams is a Manager I respect; he’s had a long career and I think in this industry; in this game, it’s not easy to build those number of games that he’s had. He’s got promotions. Morecambe have always given us a tough game. It’s not going to be an easy afternoon. It’s not going to be a comfortable afternoon. We have to perform the best we possibly can and try and keep that momentum going.”
For the Shrimps, King Derek said quite a lot before the match:
“Three points for each team is vital: they’ll be going all out to do it. That leaves space on both sides. We’ll be going out to try and win the game. They’ll leave space as well. They’ll understand we’ve got a very good home record: it’s a nearly mid-table home record this season. I don’t think there’s any point in defending at this stage of the season. I don’t think there has been any point – we’ve just gone for it. We did that at Portsmouth last week: we tried to get on the front foot and be up against the opponent. That’s our take on it all the time. I think we’ve always given it our best. I couldn’t have been any prouder of those players, a difficult game against a side pushing for the top six, and the players gave their all.”
He also announced that there were five unspecified players who would not be available for selection on Saturday due to injury. He then repeated something he has said before:
“The people above me have spoken to me face to face and told me I’ve been let down. But I’m here as the manager of the football club to try to keep us going. There’s nothing we can do. We’re in a hugely difficult situation. I am still angry. I’m boiling inside. I’m absolutely raging inside. Anger isn’t going to get me anywhere. Unfortunately, you just can’t say what you want to say. It’s a balancing act. When you’re a manager and you’re raging inside, some players don’t understand what’s going on inside and just want to play football and you’re trying to get the best out of them. I’m left to do what I’m left to do. All I’m trying to do is keep our players motivated and ready to go on a Saturday when circumstances around about us are very difficult.”
But, crucially, he also made a very profound point about Management as an art when he was asked a key question about who is left to help him to maintain his own momentum in situations such as those he faces currently. Derek, after all, is expected not just to get on with the day-to-day running of a team of individuals and deal with problems on and off the field; he is also obliged to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort trying to motivate other people. He replied:
“It’s a good question which is always spoken about in management programs: who motivates the motivator? Usually – no-one. Usually. That is the problem in society and in big organisations: it is left to the Manager. There’s the hierarchy that are able to come out and help but in a football scenario, the manager is always – always – left out on a limb. When a Manager picks-up a Manager of the Month award, he’s got five; ten; fifteen people around him. But when the Manager goes out of the door, it’s him and his black bag which goes out the door. That’s the reality of football management: it’s not right but it’s just the way that some clubs work.”
Too true. Anyway, the weather was been bright and sunny all day in north Lancashire today, albeit chilly in the shadows with a keen breeze running off Morecambe Bay.
Morecambe kicked-off and we were treated to another disjointed display from the Shrimps for most of the first half. Wycombe looked slicker and as if they had arrived with a plan. They played the ball from front to back purposefully almost all the way through the game. Their passes were made to feet and they were constantly trying to take the game to the hosts by constantly pressing up the field. Having said that, Morecambe were committed to their defence of their own goal today and man after man in a red shirt spoilt Wanderers’ good approach play by blocking the final shot with the result that home stopper Connor Ripley didn’t have any meaningful saves to make in the first half at least. Lewis Wing came close after twenty-two minutes after teammates Chris Forino and Brandon Hanlan had worked the ball intelligently down the Wanderers’ left flank but his shot was deflected narrowly wide. Just before the end of the half, Josh Scowen carried the ball a long way into the home half before slipping it to Chem Campbell, who unleashed a shot which was again deflected for a corner kick.
Morecambe looked shambolic at times and seemed determined just to clear their lines any way they could. A succession of aimless headers away from the danger area constantly fell to the men in the iconic squared strip. The home team kept giving the ball away when they had it on the ground as well and looked disorganised at the back almost every time the visitors attacked. But having said that, they also fashioned a few chances of their own. The smallest man on the field – the absolutely excellent Daniel Crowley – wasted a golden opportunity to take the lead when he headed Jensen Weir’s pin-point cross from the Shrimps’ right over the bar after a quarter of an hour. It seemed to me at least that Wycombe had conceded a penalty against Weir himself after 38 minutes but Referee Andrew Kitchen (who I thought, to be fair, had a good game today) didn’t break the script of the season so far by pointing to the spot to the advantage of the home side. Josh Austerfield also headed over the bar near the death.
But for me, the absolutely dismal display by Skipper Donald Love – who was constantly guilty of rank bad passing; being repeatedly caught completely out of position and basically being a total liability on the right hand side of the home defence throughout the time he was on the field – was key to the home side’s vulnerability in the opening period.
King Derek – absent from the touch line for the entire game presumably as a result of accumulated yellow cards this season – took his Captain off at half time. Replacement Ryan Cooney picked-up his regulation yellow card after about fifteen minutes of the restart. But he also undoubtedly helped to steady the ship on the Morecambe right as soon as he made an appearance.
Despite this, the visitors still played the better football and had the best early chances as well in the second period. They might have scored after 51 minutes when Jack Grimmer bundled a corner narrowly wide. Three minutes later, they came even closer. Josh Scowen did well to win the ball, drive forward and slip the ball to Tjay De Barr, who screwed his final shot when well placed just wide of the target.
Then the home custodian earned his corn with a superb save to keep David Wheeler’s shot out with eighty-one minutes on the clock. Four minutes later, Ripley came to the rescue again with another brilliant stop from Lewis Wing’s fierce strike. He was stranded, though, as Grimmer’s header struck his crossbar on ninety minutes and bounced away to safety. But Connor saved – if you’ll pardon the pun – his best until last. In injury time, he excelled himself to keep out McCleary’s effort after the Chairboy had been prompted by Skipper Jacobson’s excellent pass forward.
Cole Stockton had been having a poor game until he finally managed to get off a shot with an hour played. He spun and shot from the right hand side of the away penalty area from his point of view but his attempt was so high that it sailed over the roof of the seat-less home stand. Cole tried again for a spectacular finish when his over-optimistic bicycle kick went only slightly lower onto the standing terrace ten minutes later.
Morecambe’s pack was shuffled towards the end of the game and – for the first time in the match – they started to put real pressure on the Chairboys’ rearguard. For the first time in the game too, the visitors started to look increasingly vulnerable in the closing stages of the contest. Critically, after Arthur Gnahoua had been sent on with only two minutes still to play, he made a tremendous run up the Morecambe right flank. The ball found its way to substitute Jake Taylor, whose tremendous shot from some way out was superbly parried by Max Stryjek in the away goal. But Cole was quickest this time to react and he blasted the ball back past the visiting goalkeeper from a difficult angle to win the game for the Shrimps and give them a victory which had seemed unlikely for most of the contest. This win still gives hope that the club can yet again avoid relegation from League One against ball odds with only three games left to play.
Elsewhere, Cambridge beat Peterborough 2-0 in the Fens’ Derby to keep themselves two points ahead of Morecambe with a superior goal difference and a game in hand. Forest Green were hammered 1-5 at home by Barnsley to secure their immediate return to League Two. But Oxford lost at home 0-1 to Ian Evatt’s Wonderful Wanderers and Accrington also lost the Lancashire derby at home to Fleetwood by five goals to two. So the game isn’t up yet: the Shrimps sit third from bottom of the table tonight just two precious points from safety. Defeat for Wycombe probably puts an end to any hopes of a late promotion push for them. They had chances to win this game today but – despite some nice and well-constructed approach play almost throughout – they looked weak where it really matters: up front.
Derek Adams emerged from wherever he had been ensconced during the game to say this at the end of it:
“Today was a high pressure game and we pushed them all the way. We eventually got the break-through – I thought we should have got it in the first half (when) Jensen Weir should have had a penalty kick- and we just persevered. A great goal from Cole Stockton to win the match.”
Morecambe: 1 Connor Ripley; 2 Donald Love (C) (21 Ryan Cooney (Y) 45’); 4 Liam Gibson; 5 Farrend Rawson; 8 Daniel Crowley (Y); 9 Cole Stockton (Y); 15 Jensen Weir; 16 Jacob Bedeau (29 Dynel Simeu 82’); 17 Caleb Watts (7 Jake Taylor 61’); 22 Josh Austerfield (18 Oumar Niasse 82’); 23 Pape N’Diaye Souaré (14 Arthur Gnahoua 87’).
Subs not used: 12 Adam Smith.
Wycombe Wanderers: 1 Max Stryjek ; 2 Jack Grimmer; 3 Joe Jacobson (C); 5 Chris Forino (Y); 7 David Wheeler;10 Lewis Wing; 18 Brandon Hanlan (9 Sam Vokes 54’); 26 Jason McCarthy; 27 Chem Campbell (8 Curtis Thompson); 28 Josh Scowen; 29 Tjay De Barr (12 Garath McCleary 54’).
Subs not used: 6 Ryan Tafazolli; 16 Jordan Willis; 22 Nick Freeman; 38 Harvey Cartwright.
Ref: Andrew Kitchen.
Att: Over 4,000 with a commendably large following from Wycombe.
