Morecambe Duffed-Up by Cheltenham Town.
Before we go any further, I would like to add some more information to my last report about Morecambe’s draw at Bolton last Tuesday night.
I mentioned that our Manager was pushed by the appalling Ian Evatt about half an hour into the game. Although the irony in what he said would certainly be lost on him, the Neanderthal which is the Bolton Manager justified pushing – sorry; `handling’ – his Opposite Number by saying:
“I won’t stand for anybody handling my players”.
Have a look at this clip and make your own minds up about who `handled’ who and whether or not Derek Adams actually laid a hand on anybody, let alone anyone wearing a yellow strip:
https://fanbanter.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/QCnyXur-sZECGngd.mp4?_=1
Double standard – or just another deliberate lie?
How does this big Oik continually get away with this sort of behaviour? He does it because the officials at far too many EFL games are intimidated by his bullying manner and very aggressive approach to them. But Oikish behaviour seems to be all the rage currently…
I am indebted to one of my spies who provided the result of the trial of the Bolton-supporting clod who ran onto the hallowed pitch at the Mazuma Stadium which I couldn’t track-down after Bolton came to town last month. The first part of the quote is from the Manchester Evening News; the second part are his own words which I can’t improve upon:
“After pleading guilty to going onto the playing area without lawful authority or excuse, (the 29-year old Oik) of Worsley was given a conditional discharge at Lancaster Magistrates Court.
Just one fan in court, given a slap on the wrist and sent home!! So much for punishing crowd disorder.”
I might return to the ongoing fall-out from what happened on the day when Bolton came to town if only to balance the utterly unjustified `racist’ accusations which have been heaped on our club by the media in general ever since.
As I came away from their ground last Tuesday, large numbers of police piled-in to prevent violence between our own contingent and Bolton regulars who accused us in general of being `Effing Racists!”
The attempted argy-bargy is entirely the responsibility of the idiots who came out with this nonsense and then attempted to behave in this way. The question must be asked, though: would they have done this if their numbskull of a Manager hadn’t created the storm in a teacup he chose to create a few short weeks ago in Morecambe?
I promise not to mention this man or the club he is in charge of again this season.
He – at least – is simply not worth it.
I also promise not to mention Stephen Robinson on these pages again either. He probably is worth it to be honest – at least Robbo is not a thug or a bully after all – but it’s probably time for us all to move on…
Cheltenham Town arrived at what their website describes as the `Manzuma Stadium’ in north Lancashire today occupying fourteenth position in League One. Michael Duff’s team had lost two of their previous league games and won just one. In their previous 25 meetings with the Shrimps, the Robins had won eleven and lost seven. Mr Duff had this to say prior to their latest meeting:
“They are a really hard team to beat. They proved it last year – they beat us twice last year. It’s a tough place to go and we’ve just been on a winless run as well and we didn’t think we were doing that bad. They’re very similar. They haven’t just managed to nick (a win). They know where they are in the table, we’re getting down to single figures (of games left to play) after Saturday so they’ll be fighting and scrapping. They’ve got quality as well. They’re quite happy to give the ball up but they get the ball into Cole Stockton who has obviously been the platform and they get really good runners off him. They are fighting for each other; they are fighting for the manager; they are fighting for the club to stay in this League. There are people running around doing the hard work and it is going to be a really tough game so it’s important that we prepare right and prepare for what is going to come at us.
For the hosts, Derek Adams reflected on how things have gone since his return to the club and concluded:
“I’ve obviously been in for three games now. We’ve had two draws and a defeat. From the squad, we tried to change it about a bit and what I’ve seen from the ones that have played; they’ve had that fighting spirit. They’ve had to show that in the last three games they’ve played in. Come Tuesday night against Bolton Wanderers they did that in abundance and were unfortunate not to have taken the maximum points.”
As far as today’s visitors are concerned, he added:
“Cheltenham have done really well this season. (They were) promoted with us last year and they’ve been able to pick up some really good points. They’re nearly safe now and we’ve got to try and win this game to try and leapfrog the teams above us. There’s still clubs below us that are involved in the fight to get out the relegation zone. There might be one more club that comes into it (although) that might be highly unlikely. There are still a few clubs that can get to safety.”
Cheltenham started the game without the services of regulars Conor Thomas, Charlie Brown and Dan Nlundulu, who are all injured. George Lloyd – returning from the treatment room – was named on the bench today. For the Shrimps, Aaron Wildig was unavailable after his ankle injury at Bolton. Derek re-organised his defence as well, with Jacob Bedeau playing Centre Half with Greg Leigh to his left; Anthony O’Connor to his right and Liam Gibson pushed slightly further forwards.
It had been wet and windy at times in North Lancashire earlier but by three o’clock, the sun had come out and it was quite mild with it. There was a minutes’ applause prior to kick-off to jointly remember record Shrimps’ goal-scorer Keith Borrowdale and also to make at least a nod to the people of Ukraine and their current appalling plight. The home programme had a yellow and blue cover today and the scoreboard also sported the Ukrainian national colours throughout the match.
The visitors – in a Royal Blue strip with white socks – immediately went onto the attack. They could and probably should have scored within three minutes when – following snappy and precise approach play – Andy Williams headed the ball perfectly to set-up Leicester City loanee Callum Wright for a shot which he steered wide when he should have at least hit the target. Wright did better after 28 minutes though – but Trevor Carson gathered his shot quite comfortably in the home goal. There were a couple of wild efforts from both sides – Cole the Goal Stockton later managed to blast the ball right out of the ground to get an even higher trajectory than Andy Williams had managed with a wild shot after just over half an hour. The two teams looked quite well matched with both of them playing some stuff that was nice on the eye at times. But just as the game seemed to be heading for a stalemate at half time, Liam Sercombe took a speculative shot after 44 minutes which took a wicked deflection off Jacob Bedeau and looped over a stranded and helpless home goalkeeper. It was a bit of a fluke – but they all count.
So all Morecambe fans were hoping for a quick goal once the game restarted for the second half. There was one – but – very sadly from our point of view, it was scored by the other side. Almost immediately, a throw defined by Sean Long’s surname was flicked on by Robins’ Skipper Will Boyle to Elliot Bonds, whose instant shot was well-saved by Carson. Unfortunately for the Shrimps, Wright was quickest to react to the Second Ball and he smashed it home to increase Cheltenham’s lead to two goals.
Morecambe played their best football of the game for about twenty minutes after this. There was a melee in the visitors’ penalty area after fifty minutes. At least two shots were cleared off the line and it seemed inevitable that Morecambe would score as the visitors were at Panic Stations – but the ball just wouldn’t go in. But just two minutes later – as the Robins remained totally disorganised at the back – the goal was peppered again and this time Greg Leigh was able to force a low ball from Cole the Goal on the Morecambe right over the line to reduce the arrears from very close range.
By this time, the visitors were beginning to play for time. I suppose that nobody can really blame any football team in the position that they found themselves from doing so – it is up to the Referee to stop it. But officious and incompetent Andrew Kitchen didn’t. Owen Evans in the away goal single-handedly wasted at least seven minutes this afternoon – from being corpse-like in his own penalty area in the fifty-fifth minute , he was obviously miraculously able to carry-on totally unaffected a little while later. By play-acting in the way he did, however, he caused a break in play lasting perhaps three minutes when Morecambe were clearly on top and an equaliser seemed only a matter of time. Referee Kitchen should have booked him for time-wasting at every goal and free-kick which he took subsequently. But he didn’t. When a Cheltenham player put his arm right across Shane McLoughlin’s throat as he broke away later in the play, the Referee didn’t even give a foul, let alone the Yellow Card which should have been issued. Similarly, when substitute Jonah Ayunga was tripped by the corner flag almost as soon as he came on, the Man in Black didn’t penalise the Cheltenham offender either. Possibly the most contentious decision the Referee failed to give arrived just two minutes after they had reduced the arrears. Charlie Raglan clearly upended Connolly in the Robins’ penalty area – but once again, the Referee took no action.
The nearest the hosts came to equalising was in the sixty-fourth minute, when a corner fell to Adam Phillips; his shot was deflected to Cole Stockton and he hit the underside of the bar with a fierce shot which Evans was miles away from. It wouldn’t have counted if it had gone in, though – the Goal Machine was off-side. Derek Adams went for broke by sending on both Ayunga and Jonathan Obika in the second half; sacrificing Liam Gibson and Alfie McCalmont to do so.
The gamble didn’t work. Cheltenham had already created a couple of chances – as Carson saved well from Andy Williams after almost an hour, having made a mistake to give him the chance in the first place just beforehand. Shortly afterwards, League One EFL Player of the Month Alfie May – who was a real handful for the Shrimps’ defence throughout the game – tried and failed to lob the home custodian. At the other end, Cole the Goal forced an excellent save from Evans at the cost of a corner with seventy minutes on the clock. But the man who was leading the line for the other side made no mistake with just ten minutes left. The Long Throw reached Wright, whose scuffed shot was blocked. But the ball fell to May and he fairly walloped it home to put the result beyond doubt.
Cheltenham was the better team today. A bit more luck and a better Referee might have affected the result slightly but I thought that the visitors had just a bit too much nous for our lads today. The win meant that the Robins remained in lucky Thirteenth position in League One tonight. Most of Morecambe’s rivals for The Drop also lost. Unfortunately, one of these was Doncaster, who were defeated at home by Gillingham. The three points pushed the Gills into the Twenty-First position hogged by the Shrimps for several weeks now; one point better-off than us. Derek Adams summed-up what had happened after the game thus:
“I think that over the game, we had some really good opportunities; we did give it a go. But we can’t concede the goals that were conceded. That’s a huge problem and it has been throughout the season. We have to be more solid (and) we had been against the likes of Plymouth Argyle, Bolton and Ipswich . But today, they were really soft goals that we lost.”
Morecambe: 30 Trevor Carson; 3 Greg Leigh; 4 Anthony O’Connor (C); 5 Jacob Bedeau; 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 9 Cole Stockton; 11 Dylan Connolly; 18 Adam Phillips; 19 Shane McLoughlin; 22 Liam Gibson (17 Jonah Ayunga 76’); 25 Alfie McCalmont (14 Jonathan Obika 52’).
Subs Not Used: 41 Adam Smith; 16 Jacob Mensah; 21 Ryan Cooney; 24 Arthur Gnahoua; 27 Ousmane Fané.
Cheltenham: 1 Owen Evans; 2 Sean Long; 5 Charlie Raglan; 8 Liam Sercombe; 10 Alfie May; 14 Andy Williams (19 George Lloyd 84’); 15 William Boyle (C); 16 Callum Wright; 17 Matty Blair; 23 Elliot Bonds (Y) (40 Charlie Colkett 60’); 28 Ben Williams (6 Lewis Freestone 84’).
Subs Not Used: 20 Scott Flinders; 4 Mattie Pollock; 11 Ellis Chapman; 27 Aaron Ramsey.
Ref: Andrew Kitchen.
Att: 3,733 (199 from Cheltenham).
