Time Running Out for Mercurial Morecambe.
After his team’s truly feeble display as they lay down and died against Charlton Athletic last Tuesday night, Morecambe Manager Derek Adams would have to call on his considerable skills in motivation to get a more committed display out of his players today. With games quickly running out and Morecambe’s position in League One looking increasingly parlous, Mr Adams basically needed nothing less than three points today if his team is to stand any realistic chance of retaining their place in League One for a second consecutive season. The Shrimps have only taken two points; shipped nine goals and kept just a single clean sheet in their last five games – relegation form indeed. In previous encounters with today’s visitors Oxford United, Morecambe have won a paltry three of sixteen games and lost seven. They drew in Oxfordshire earlier this season but lost there 3-2 last term. Last April, though – as King Derek was performing his miracle of keeping us in League One for a second season, the Shrimps beat United 2-1 at the Maz. A similarly good result was imperative today.
Oxford are far from unbeatable this season. They arrived in north Lancashire in nineteenth position in League One, just three places and three points better off than this afternoon’s hosts. Critically though, they have played one game fewer. Having decided to sack their Manager of the last few years – Karl Robinson – last month, the hierarchy at Oxford have appointed another Manager who has spent some time in charge of the club at Milton Keynes. On this occasion, it is Liam Manning, who was himself sacked by the Plastic People last December after a run of only one win in eleven league games. In his one game as an observer at the Kassam Stadium so far, Mr Manning was unable to halt Oxford’s slide: they lost 2-3 against Derby County there last Saturday to make it five defeats in a row for his new charges. He told BBC Sport, in a statement which is quite difficult to follow:
“I think (that) obviously there’s the psychological aspect. We’ve got a good group of players that have played at the level before and shown they’ve got the quality of playing the level. So it’s also getting them back on track mentally whether it be confidence; whether it be discipline. I think sometimes when you’re chasing a result you can lose a bit of discipline. It crept in a couple of times on Saturday in the first half. There’s still a large number of points to play for and I think that psychologically that will run out. We need to change it (the psychology, presumably) sooner rather than later. I think that sometimes you become so focused that the three points on a Saturday is everything, you then get that emotional rollercoaster that makes it difficult from a performance perspective. We’re all clearly aware of the situation we’re in but if we can all get together and from the off on Saturday, pull in the same direction and give everything we’ve got, hopefully we’ll get the outcome that we want.”
On the club’s own website, he added:
“But we will go up to Morecambe and I am sure the fans will be right behind us. I have had a fantastic welcome and now we have to get the fans off their seats and give them something to cheer about, starting on Saturday.”
For the hosts, King Derek said:
“It’s extremely close. We’re three points behind Oxford at this moment in time and we’ve got to try and get the better of them. (We’ll be) playing (on) Saturday as if it’s our last game because that’s what we’ve got to do between now and the end of the season. It’s nine games and each game is huge for us.“
During the week, Morecambe made another signing in a bid to try and steady a sinking ship. Pape N’Diaye Souaré has been given a contract until the end of the season. The 32-year-old former Crystal Palace defender had his career seriously interrupted after being involved in a major car crash during 2016 which led to him being airlifted to hospital, so badly was he hurt. He is expected to pick-up the Left Back berth which has been empty since Max Melbourne was injured against Bolton earlier this month. Derek said of the new man:
“To be able to bring a player of Pape’s experience in at this stage of the season is a real boost to the group. In losing Max we have tried to find a good replacement and we have managed to bring in a former Premier League player and Senegal international which we hope will benefit us during the run-in.”
For the U’s, the influential Billy Bodin and James Henry were both missing today due to injury.
The weather in north Lancashire today mirrored the atmosphere at the ground: bright and breezy at the start of the game with increasing murk gathering above as gloom spread through the stadium towards the end. Thin drizzle fell as the disappointed crowd dispersed in the wetness at the end of proceedings.
Morecambe started the match fairly brightly and had the first shot on goal as Daniel Crowley forced a save at the second attempt from visiting keeper Simon Eastwood with seven minutes played. The game was not good to watch with too many mistakes from both teams, each of which looked lamentably low on confidence. Huge Oxford Skipper, Centre Half Elliott Moore marshalled his team-mates well and a lot of the U’s forward play was initiated by him from the back. The standard of football so far, however, was probably best summed-up by a wild shot by Marcus McGuane which looped right over the stand roof with almost forty minutes played. But United put together the best – and one of few decent moves by either team – with just four minutes scheduled to play in the first half. The ball was played down the centre of the pitch and then worked out to their left flank where Yanic-Sonny Wildschut went on a run before sending over a delicious cross which Marcus Browne turned into the net from close range. The commendably large away support behind the goal celebrated as if they had just won the cup – and who can blame them?
It could have been more when Farrend Rawson did brilliantly to clear a free-kick from Cameron Brannagan from his own goal-line in stoppage time.
There’s not a lot to say about the second half. Derek shook things up with several changes but it was only in the last five minutes or so that the home side played with any conviction or passion. The one person who stood out in a red shirt as being determined not to just let their head drop and accept what increasingly felt like yet another certain defeat was deserved Man of the Match Dan Crowley. He led by example. The man who should have – Captain Donald Love – had another poor game today. But he wasn’t alone. Liam Shaw was virtually anonymous and Jensen Weir, if anything, even worse. Liam Gibson always puts in a shift and Oumar Niasse showed flashes of ability in the first half at least. But this was yet another tepid, disjointed display by the Shrimps. They belatedly equalised in the eighty-seventh minute when substitute Ash Hunter scored with a low shot which beat Eastwood’s despairing dive to keep it out. But most of the Shrimps’ players had looked resigned to another defeat for quite a while before this rare moment of inspiration lifted the match and the funereal atmosphere in the ground.
So that was it – a point each. Is it enough? Not really. Both teams could have done with all three and both teams look as if they are in serious trouble at this critical stage of the season. Liam Manning will be the happier Manager that at least his men took away something from an away match. But Morecambe’s position in the Dead Zone of League One worsened still more with results from elsewhere. Their next opponents – the Plastic Dons – won 0-1 at Accrington to place themselves out of danger and two points ahead of the Shrimps with one fewer game played. Stanley dropped into the relegation positions as a result but are also a point better off than their Lancashire rival – and with two games in hand as well. Cambridge thankfully also lost at home – 1-2 to Charlton to stay just below us in the table in twenty-third place. But a week where the club really needed six home points has yielded only one. With Morecambe’s appalling away form one of the main reasons they are in the precarious position they currently find themselves in, the immediate future looks bleak indeed. The vultures have been circling for a while. But soon, they could be landing at the Mazuma Stadium to pick over the bare bones of a very disappointing season.
However, Derek Adams had resolutely tried to put a positive spin on things throughout the campaign. Good for him – Derek never gives up hope, no matter what. This is what the King said tonight:
“The players keep on going. I’m always proud of them. They fought back. It’s a point. It didn’t allow Oxford to get any points ahead of us. We just keep on fighting.”
Morecambe: 1 Connor Ripley; 2 Donald Love (C); 4 Liam Gibson; 5 Farrend Rawson; 8 Daniel Crowley (Y); 15 Jensen Weir (9 Cole Stockton 51’); 16 Jacob Bedeau (17 Caleb Watts 76’); 18 Oumar Niasse (10 Ash Hunter 76’); 20 Liam Shaw (22 Josh Austerfield 76’); 25 Adam Mayor (Y) (23 Pape N’Diaye Souaré 51’); 29 Dynel Simeu.
Subs not used: 12 Adam Smith; 6 Ryan Delaney.
Oxford United: 13 Simon Eastwood; 2 Sam Long; 4 Stuart Findlay; 5 Elliott Moore (C); 8 Cameron Brannagan; 11 Marcus Browne (Y); 16 Ciaron Brown; 18 Marcus McGuane; 25 Oisin Smyth (14 Lewis Bate 93’); 30 Yanic-Sonny Wildschut (22 Kyle Joseph 73’); 39 Gatlin O’Donkor (23 Josh Murphy 73’).
Subs not used: 21 Edward McGinty; 3 Brandon Fleming; 21 Edward McGinty; 27 Tyler Goodrham; 33 Djavan Anderson.
Ref: Samuel Barrott.
Att: 4,260 (several hundred from Oxford.)
