Morecambe Matchzone

Morecambe 1:1 Gillingham

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Bore Draw at Morecambe

Before we start, here’s an update concerning developments about the disorder which occurred at the match against Bolton last Saturday in Morecambe. Six Trotters’ supporters were arrested after the game on charges ranging from assault to criminal damage. One Morecambe supporter was arrested on suspicion of racist abuse. That doesn’t mean that any of those charged are guilty of any offence but what is significant is the difference in the nature of the charges brought by the police. An unproven accusation of racist behaviour on one hand – and several instances of violence on the other. I would suggest that this reflects what anyone who was there actually saw with their own eyes last Saturday. Shrimps’ fans didn’t pelt the visiting goalkeeper with missiles; invade the pitch or attack a disabled fan on a mobility scooter. They didn’t smash-up a train on the way to the game either. My spies tell me there was trouble with the visiting fans elsewhere as well – at Preston station, for example, where the police had to intervene to restore order.  More importantly, Bolton Wanderers itself has applied lifetime bans to eight of their own so-called supporters for what occurred on the day. Morecambe FC, on the other hand, have banned precisely nobody. This is all a matter of fact.

As such they will – of course – all be acknowledged on EFL on Quest later tonight. The presenter of the programme – Colin Murray – will wear the Morecambe FC shirt he bought last season and pay a tribute to the club’s fabulous catering by eating a special Humble Pie live in the studio. Then the director of the show will personally apologise for not showing any of the riotous behaviour which was filmed by the programme last week and not even bothering to mention the missile-throwing incident.  Then the highlight of the broadcast will follow. Professor Clinton Morrison will deliver a lecture about the problems besetting policing and the key element of community consent in any modern representative post-industrial democracy (once the Big Words have been explained to him). Don’t miss it: I personally can’t wait…

Seriously though folks, I emailed Colin Murray last Saturday as soon as I saw the completely unbalanced and factually inaccurate report he and his accomplices made of the match. He hasn’t bothered to reply. Neither has anyone from the production team of the show.

How pathetic and spineless is that?

But let’s move on again…

Ex-Millwall legend Neil Harris brought the Gillingham team he inherited when the very cuddly Steve Evans was sacked last month to the Mazuma Stadium today. Mr Harris is well-known to be very much the club’s second choice as a replacement for everybody’s favourite Glaswegian of all time.  The job was offered to National League club Bromley’s Andy Woodman – who promptly turned it down on the basis that he would rather his first experience of League Two to be on the up with his current employers than on a downward trajectory with a different Kentish club altogether.

So in a sense, Neil is on a hiding to nothing: if he fails to keep the Gills In League One, everybody will say he wasn’t considered to be up to it in the first place. But the club is also on a hiding to nothing as well at the moment and today, Neil Harris would be hoping to make ground on one of their rivals for relegation back to League Two. Under his tutelage, the Gills have improved a bit and actually beat Cambridge United by the only goal of the game at Priestfield last Tuesday night. This win – their second in their last five, of which they have also lost two – placed them one place and just four points behind today’s hosts in twenty-second position in League One. However, they are still far from being a fully rejuvenated team. Their defeat at home against Oxford United two weeks ago – where they scored two goals but conceded seven – indicates that they remain very fragile at the back. Prior to the game, Mr Harris had the following simple message:

“Away from home we have to make sure we manage games well. Morecambe is a tough place to go. It will be a competitive game. Physically, we need to be strong. We need to win more games – we know that – but it’s my job to take pressure off the players.”

Morecambe, meanwhile, were contriving to lose against a very ordinary Lincoln City side at Sincil Bank at the same time Gillingham were winning last Tuesday. They have won only a single match out of their last five and lost two. In previous meetings, the Shrimps also have a poor record against the Gills. They lost last September in Kent against them, putting on a really anaemic display against a team which had failed to beat anyone else in League One in three times of asking up to that point. They also lost their first-ever meeting with the team from Kent five-nil at Priestfield. Since then, they have lost another four; drawn three and only ever won one, ten years ago in North Lancashire. So the Gills seem to have the same sort of Indian Sign as far as Morecambe are concerned which is normally reserved only for Accrington Stanley. Having said that though, the Shrimps are certainly currently capable of beating the visitors today. But this depends upon which home team turns-up this afternoon. If the one which played in the second half and throughout last Saturday’s game against Bolton Wanderers takes the field, they will win. If the one that played so ineptly in the first half at Sincil Bank shows-up though, even Gillingham will be likely to beat them yet again. Robbo said the following before the game started:

“Gillingham have had a little bounce in the last two games. They’re probably looking and thinking ‘we’ll try and catch Morecambe first and foremost’. (But) we can almost keep them a good distance away from us and, again, bring people back to the race. We’ve got to finish one place above that bottom four. That’s all we have to aim for – and for me, that would be the biggest achievement of my managerial career. It’s a huge task to stay in this division. Do I think that we can? I certainly do. (There are) fifteen games to go. There’s going to be a lot of twists and turns in the season. We’ll beat teams we’re not expected to or lose to teams we’re probably expected to compete with and beat that are down at the bottom of the table. There’s nothing set in stone yet, there’s a long way to go as I say, Fifteen games (is) a lot of points to play for.”

Rhys Bennett – playing against his previous employers and a Manager who decided he was Surplus to Requirements just a few short weeks ago – was named on the bench today but didn’t feature at any time as things turned-out. Vadaine Oliver – who scored the decisive goal of the game when Gillingham beat the Shrimps 2-1 last September – returned to his former stomping ground as well as he led the visitors’ attack.

There’s not much to say about the game except that here were two poor sides playing rubbishy football that wouldn’t be good enough for League Two. The weather – wet and grey in north Lancashire all day today – didn’t help. The pitch was soggy underfoot and it was quite misty at times as well.

The Gills had obviously come for a draw and the only positive thing you can say about them is that they were not afraid to take a punt when within shooting distance of the Morecambe goal. Conor Masterson tried his luck from a long way out but missed after eleven minutes and then forced a save from Trevor Carson in the twentieth. Fourteen minutes had been played when Ben Thompson came closer with another thunderbolt from distance. Vadaine Oliver – who else? – then headed a clever pass to Robbie McKenzie after 38 minutes but his shot was relatively easily saved by the home goalkeeper. You feared, though, that if the visitors  kept taking a pop, one of these chances would be converted eventually. And so it proved. Vadaine set-up Ryan Jackson on the Gillingham right after seventy-two minutes and the substitute fairly walloped a howitzer of a shot which swerved into the top corner of Trevor Carson’s net to his left – nobody could have saved it. This was virtually the only moment of actual class during the entire dreary game.

As for Morecambe, they seemed to be trying to bore the opposition into submission with a weak display where the ball was given away far too often and the team in the red strip seemed terrified to try their luck by testing the visiting goalkeeper – the absolutely gigantic Aaron Chapman. There were chances – twice in goal-mouth scrambles during the first half, for instance – as the visitors struggled to clear their lines. Cole the Goal had an uncharacteristically poor game today. But – even in adversity – he never gives up. Jonah Ayunga and Shane McLoughlin can’t be faulted for effort either. Arthur Gnahoua troubled the Gills’ defence at times – but those times weren’t often enough in my opinion. Greg Leigh did a good job as always but Toumani Diagouraga was quiet as well today and Adam Phillips offered nothing at all. Only when he was finally substituted after just over an hour by Aaron Wildig did Morecambe seem to show any urgency going forward. However, the key move from Stephen Robinson was to send on Jonathan Obika after seventy-odd minutes. As Morecambe very belatedly started to actually put the men in the blue strips under any meaningful pressure, he equalised with a fine effort with only six minutes left to play. The impressive Jacob Bedeau played an excellent cross-field ball to Captain Anthony O’Connor (who was assured and dependable again today). He slipped it towards Jon, who managed to spin and outpace his marker to shoot past the colossus in the away goal with an assured finish. The Shrimps could then have won it with only two minutes left following a blocked shot and a general scramble in the away penalty area before Masterson managed to clear the ball away from danger. In injury time – as the home team finally started to swamp the Gillingham defence – Chapman made a truly superb save from Obika to ensure that his team returned southwards with a single point.

You couldn’t really begrudge them this. Neil Harris said at the end of the match:

“We battled and we were resolute when we had to be. It builds the momentum, belief, and keeps us going. It was backs to the wall at times in tough conditions.”

The Manager of the hosts blamed the heavy pitch for his men’s failure to win today. He said that they passed the ball well; pressed effectively and played some `super, super’ football.

I must have been watching a different match. This game was a cure for insomnia: it was absolutely dreadful. I suspect that any objective observer would fear for both of these clubs on this performance. But it seems that there might be even more dire teams in League One this season.

Elsewhere, Doncaster predictably lost again – this time 4-0 at Portsmouth. Crewe lost 4-1 at Accrington as well. Above today’s contenders for the League One Wooden Spoon, Fleetwood and Shrewsbury also lost and Lincoln and Wimbledon could only draw.

So at the end of it all, nothing really changed as far as Morecambe and Gillingham were concerned. It could have saved everybody concerned – and particularly the stalwarts from Kent who made the long journey to north Lancashire today – a lot of time and effort if they had simply agreed to divide the spoils beforehand and not play this bore draw at all…

Morecambe:  30 Trevor Carson; 3 Greg Leigh; 4 Anthony O’Connor (C): 5 Jacob Bedeau; 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 9 Cole Stockton; 17 Jonah Ayunga; 18 Adam Phillips (10 Aaron Phillips 64’); 19 Shane McLoughlin; 24 Arthur Gnahoua (14 Jonathan Obika 73’); 21 Ryan Cooney.

Subs Not Used:  41 Adam Smith; 11 Dylan Connolly 25 Alfie McCalmont; 27 Ousmane Fané;  31 Rhys Bennett.

Gillingham: 12 Aaron Chapman; 3 David Tutonda (Y) 2 Ryan Jackson 60’; 4 Stuart O’Keefe; 5 Max Ehmer; 6 Jack Tucker; 8 Ben Thompson; 9 Thomas Dickson-Peters (33 Charlie Kelman (Y) (85’); 10 Olly Lee (20 Daniel Phillips 76’); 14 Robbie McKenzie; 15 Conor Masterson; 19 Vadaine Oliver.

Subs Not Used:  1 Pontus Dahlberg; 2 Ryan Jackson; 23 Harvey Lintott; 26 Christian Maghoma; 32 Josh Chambers.

 Ref: Peter Wright.

Att: 4,499 (279 from Kent.)

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