Railwaymen Derailed at Morecambe
Dave Artell brought his Crewe team to the Globe Arena today looking to close the two-point gap between themselves and leaders Swindon Town right at the very top of League Two. The ex-Gibraltar International was, appropriately enough, once a rock at the heart of the Morecambe defence. Today, the Moose was in charge of a team which has won four of their last five matches, having lost the other one two games ago against Plymouth Argyle, where an unmarked Chris Porter was guilty of possibly the Miss Of The Season when faced with a totally open goal during the second half. Crewe are developing into something of a bogey team for today’s opponents who have shipped a whole eleven goals during their last two visits to Gresty Road without scoring even one themselves. Alex have also won eight of the clubs’ previous thirteen meetings, losing just three.
At the other end of the table, Derek Adams’ men were hoping to consolidate their single point lead over Macclesfield Town in twenty-third position as well as their nine-point advantage over rock-bottom Stevenage. The Shrimps had lost two of their last five matches and won one but they were unbeaten at home this year so far prior to kick-off.
There was bad news for the home team during the week though: Cole Stockton picked-up a serious shoulder injury right at the end of the Carlisle match last Saturday and will be out for at least four weeks. So A-Jay Leitch-Smith was chosen to plough Cole’s usual position right down the middle against the club where he started his career and Harvey Bradbury was added to the first team squad today. Yet another storm – Jorge – was due to sweep across the north of England today. But there was no sign of it until the rain started to make its freezing presence felt right at the end of the game: most of the contest was played in bright sunshine.
Crewe, playing in mustard-coloured shirts and socks, showed their intentions when they won a corner in the very first minute. From this, Charlie Kirk missed the target with a shot. It was seven minutes before the hosts had their first attempt on goal; Aaron Wildig’s shot was too high to trouble visiting goalkeeper William Jääsjeläinen. Ten minutes later, the always impressive Crewe Captain Perry Ng had an effort which Steven Old did brilliantly to block virtually on the Morecambe goal-line. Twenty-three minutes had been played when Wildig got on the end of a long ball and drew a smart save from Jääsjeläinen from a narrow-angle. He came closer still three minutes later when his header from Adam Phillips’ cross was brilliantly turned away from danger by the visiting stopper. Alex went virtually straight down the other end and won a corner. From this, the Shrimps defence struggled to clear the ball which finally found its way to the giant Michael Nottingham, whose header was stopped by Christoffer Mafoumbi’s leg. How much he knew about it, I wouldn’t like to say. Mafoumbi did well though a couple of minutes later to keep out a low shot from Oliver Finney at full stretch to his right. At the other end, with half an hour on the clock, Jordan Slew was denied by a simply superb save from the man between Crewe’s posts. The nearest anyone came to scoring was in the fortieth minute. Finney found Chris Porter in the Morecambe box and his instant shot came back off Mafoumbi’s left post with the goalkeeper beaten. The visitors continued to press towards the end of the half but the break came with neither team having found the back of the net.
It had been a decent game so far played in a good spirit and with both teams trying to win it. But it took less than two minutes from the restart for Crewe to take the lead in front of the massed ranks of their own supporters. The Shrimps had already conceded a corner and struggled to clear it when a second one found its way to Ng, who was quickest to react and blast the ball home from close range. Wildig was booked after 54 minutes for a really bad foul on Luke Offord and was probably lucky just to receive a yellow card from Referee Graham Salisbury. At this point in the game, Crewe were definitely in charge. Unusually, a lot of their attacking play was generated from the back on the left flank, where Ng and particularly Michael Nottingham were playing really intelligent passes which were testing the Morecambe defence time and time again. Old and Captain Sam Lavelle dealt with this really well, though and Morecambe gradually forced their way back into the game. Carlos Mendes-Gomes went on a trademark mazy run with just over an hour played and next thing had hit the crossbar with a shot from close-in with the Alex defence at sixes and sevens. Sixty-eight minutes had been played when Crewe seemed to have cleared another Morecambe incursion but the ball fell perfectly for Wildig who walloped it home from the edge of the area to restore equality. Almost immediately, Steven Walker could have put the visitors back into the lead with a shot which also bounced back from the woodwork with 74 minutes played. There were half-chances for both sides after this but the significant moment arrived in injury time. Phillips fouled Ng on the half-way line and Referee Salisbury sent him off. And that was it: one each at the end.
This was a pretty good match. Crewe are a good side and they approach the game in the right way: no time-wasting or play-acting but lots of endeavour and no little skill. Without Cole Stockton, Morecambe were lightweight up-front today until Harvey Bradbury belatedly replaced A-Jay, who had huffed and puffed but had little real effect most of the time. Stevenage’s home game at home against Walsall was postponed due to the weather which meant that the Shrimps found themselves ten whole points clear of them tonight despite having played an extra game. With Macclesfield losing at home to Salford by two goals to nil, Derek Adams’ side found themselves two points clear of them as well. Bit by bit, they seem to be inching ever closer to safety in League Two. With Swindon’s match postponed today as well, Dave Artell’s side missed the chance to take over their spot at the top of the table. On this performance, though, I think they are a pretty safe bet for a place in League One next season. Good luck to them.
Morecambe: 37 Christoffer Mafoumbi; 30 Ryan Cooney; 33 Jordan Cranston; 5 Steven Old; 16 Sam Lavelle (C); 29 Jordan Slew (7 John O’Sullivan 62’); 19 Carlos Mendes-Gomes; 31 Adam Phillips (R); 15 Aaron Wildig (Y); 32 Toumani Diagouraga; 10 A-Jay Leitch-Smith (27 Harvey Bradbury 76’).
Subs not used: 21 Mark Halstead; 27 Christian Mbulu; 14 Tom Brewitt; 4 Alex Kenyon.
Crewe Alexandra: 1 William Jääsjeläinen; 2 Perry Ng; 28 Michael Nottingham; 21 Luke Offord; 3 Harry Pickering; 4 Ryan Wintle; 8 James Jones; 14 Oliver Finney (12 Paul Green 76’); 29 Stephen Walker; 9 Chris Porter (17 Chuma Anene 74’); 10 Charlie Kirk (7 Daniel Powell 82’).
Subs not used: 13 Dave Richards; 11 Callum Ainley; 15 Nicky Hunt; 19 Owen Dale.
Ref: Graham Salisbury.
2872 (1049)
