Morecambe Scraping Off The Bottom
Cambridge United were the visitors today to the Globe Arena. Last Saturday, as Morecambe were being walloped 4-1 away at Northampton, United were hosting then bottom-of-the-table Stevenage and were hammered by a team notorious for not being able to get the ball into the net by four goals to nil. It was a dreadful performance by Colin Calderwood’s men and their defeat meant that today’s opponents took over duties at the very bottom of the Football League. It’s only a month ago since the Shrimps lost in Cambridgeshire to basically the same team and it was imperative for Calderwood’s former Number Two at Hibernian – Derek Adams – and his men to reverse that result today by the Lancashire seaside.
The U’s arrived in sixteenth place in League Two and a comfortable nine points ahead of the Shrimps. They have won one and drawn three of their last five league games to add to their defeat last Saturday. Morecambe, meanwhile, have lost three of their last five league matches and won only one. Defeat today, though, could leave them isolated at the bottom of the division particularly if Borough could pick up anything at home against Plymouth Argyle. Morecambe have won six of the previous twelve meetings between the clubs and lost four. There were highlights and lowlights during this run. As a non-league club, Morecambe knocked United out of the FA Cup at Christie Park during 2000. But revenge has been exacted: the U’s are also responsible for their worst-ever deficit in the EFL: seven-nil at the Abbey Stadium just four short years ago.
The revolution Derek Adams has set in motion at the Globe Arena continued apace this week. Lewis Allesandra – whose return to the club this season saw him become leading scorer early on – has gone. DA has made it clear since he took over that he didn’t see a future for a player whose commitment in two stints with the Shrimps always seemed questionable on the field: you got the impression that this guy often didn’t either really try or keep himself in as good a physical condition as a professional footballer ought to. Shame – he unquestionable possesses an awful lot of natural talent. Lewis’ contract has expired – and it has not been renewed. Maybe Carlisle United – for whom he has signed until the end of the season – can get more out of him. I hope so – for his sake at least.
One thing the Manager had no control over, though, was Manchester United’s decision to recall loanee George Tanner and his subsequent transfer to Shrimps’ rivals Salford City. This development has been rumoured for a while and George will be missed. The move shows, however – given the well-known connections between Salford and Old Trafford – that it genuinely ain’t what you know… it’s who you know… The departing player said:
“It’s been a great experience playing for Morecambe. I managed to play 28 games, which is more than I expected to play when I first arrived. I played 20 games in the whole of last season so to play 28 already this season has been very good for me. It’s been great to meet the bunch of lads that are here, I think Morecambe is a great football club and what we have here is special. I’ve loved spending the time with the players and the coaches ever since the day I arrived.”
However, Derek has not been slow in getting in a replacement for young George. Twenty-three-year-old Christian Mbulu has signed this week after being released by Crewe. The Alexandra boss and former Shrimps’ favourite ex- fellow central defender Dave Artell said of the Plymouth-born defender’s contract at Morecambe:
“I actually hope it works out for him because he’s a great fella. He is an exceptional human being.”
Christian has suffered several serious injuries during his short career – including a detached retina and hamstring problems in recent times. He once played for Millwall but it can be assumed that he caught the eye of the Manager when he impressed for Motherwell – for whom he signed during 2018 – in the Scottish Premier League. Let’s hope the injuries don’t hold him back – and let’s also hope that he doesn’t encounter the sort of racist abuse for which two alleged Heart Of Midlothian `fans’ were arrested just over a year ago…
For Morecambe, Derek Adams selected Christoffer Maffoumbi for his debut in goal in place of Mark Halstead today. Luke Conlan was also restored to the defence. Victor Adeboyejo and Idris El Mizouni were in the Cambridge team for the first time too. It was overcast but dry before the game and the play offered by both teams during the first half perfectly accompanied the weather: it was dull, dull, dull… Neither side could conjure the wit or the skill to string more than about five passes together and as a result, chances were at a premium. Visiting Cambridge goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov hadn’t a shot to save and the nearest the home side came to scoring was after two minutes, when Cole Stockton’s effort from the right hand side of the United penalty area from his point just missed Mitov’s right-hand post. Steven Old headed over the bar two minutes later and there was nice play on the Morecambe right with thirty-seven minutes played. Official Man-of-the-Match Carlos Mendes-Gomes was played-in on goal only for the U’s defence to smother the chance. Cambridge ‘s contribution was when Reggie Lambe sent a ludicrously optimistic shot way over the bar from almost the halfway line after about twenty minutes. Following a corner kick with just over half an hour played, the ball fell to Jack Roles on the Cambridge left and his shot was brilliantly saved by debutant Maffoumbi. Roles then blasted a free-kick into the stand after 37 minutes. At the death, Harry Darling received the ball in an unmarked position only about twenty yards out. With a bit of composure, he could have easily opened the scoring. Fortunately for Morecambe, though, he didn’t have any and the chance was completely wasted.
The Shrimps came out in the second half as if they meant business. Following a full-blooded attack into the Cambridge half right from kick-off, the ball found its way to Adam Phillips on the Morecambe left and he slammed a tremendous shot past Mitov to put the home side into the lead. It was just what the game needed but any hope that Derek Adams’ men would go on to dominate came to nothing. They had a half-hearted call for a penalty when Phillips collided with a United defender after 58 minutes. Two minutes later, though, Cole Stockton got away from Cambridge Captain Greg Taylor, who made a lunge at the ball in the Cambridge penalty area and got none of it but plenty of Cole’s legs. Anywhere else on the pitch, it would be a foul. But – as was the case throughout the afternoon – Referee Carl Boyeson (consistently one of the EFL’s worst) was not up with play and the nearest linesman was on the other half of the field. However, sorties into the visitors’ half by this time were becoming few and far between for the home team. United were increasingly playing the game in Morecambe’s half and the men in the red strip were looking increasingly unable to either break-out or do anything at all to stop Cambridge’s monopoly of the play. I was personally hoping that Derek would shake things up with a substitution or two with just over an hour played. But he didn’t. There were 67 minutes on the clock when Morecambe conceded a corner, Roles swung it over and Harry Knibbs was fastest to respond to a blocked Darling header and slam the ball home past a helpless Maffoumbi. So that was the equaliser and Cambridge clearly hadn’t finished. They continued to dominate the possession and the game was still being played mostly in the home half. However, Carlos went on a brilliant run in the seventieth minute and played-in Stockton, who bulldozed his way into the penalty area and unleashed a shot from the Morecambe left which I, for one, thought was in. But it just shaved Mitov’s left-hand post. After some shuffling of the pack, the Shrimps finally started to assert themselves during the last ten minutes. The always impressive A-Jay Leitch-Smith could have won it right at the death with a tremendous dipping shot which the Cambridge goalkeeper excelled himself to keep-out at full stretch: it was a phenomenal stop. Finding themselves suddenly on the back foot, United used every trick in the Book of Dark Arts at the end; feigning injuries; making substitutions simply to waste time etc etc etc. A better referee than Mr Boyeson would have penalised them but instead, he blew the whistle early and the game ended in a draw.
Colin Calderwood would doubtlessly be happy with the point. I felt, however, that with a bit more application and determination his team could have won this game. His opposite number must be concerned with what was a shambolic performance at times by his men, particularly during the second half. But a point is a point and his former employers did him a favour by winning 1-2 at Stevenage this afternoon and thus condemning Borough back to the bottom of the EFL. Morecambe are second-bottom; Cambridge, meanwhile, remained in sixteenth at the end of the day.
Morecambe: 37 Christoffer Mafoumbi; 30 Ryan Cooney (Y); 5 Steven Old; 16 Sam Lavelle (C); 3 Luke Conlan; 31 Adam Phillips (Y) (14 Tom Brewitt 79’); 4 Alex Kenyon (!5 Aaron Wildig 73’); 32 Toumani Diagouraga; 19 Carlos Mendes-Gomes; 9 Cole Stockton; 29 Jordan Slew (Y) (10 A-Jay Leitch-Smith 85’).
Subs not used: 21 Mark Halstead; 12 Ritchie Sutton; 27 Christian Mbulu.
Cambridge United: 1 Dimitar Mitov; 2 Kyle Knoyle; 5 Greg Taylor (C); 16 Harry Darling; 11 Harrison Dunk (3 Daniel Jones 91’); 10 George Maris (Y); 8 Liam O’Neil (7 Luke Hannant 86’); 22 Paul Lewis; 30 Jack Roles (34 Idris El Mizouni 87’); 26 Harvey Knibbs; 18 Victor Adeboyejo.
Subs not used: 4 George Taft; 17 Leon Davies; 19 Reggie Lambe; 25 Callum Burton.
Ref: Carl Boyeson.
2019
