Conquering Hero Kev Settles a Score – With a Score…
It’s the Shrimps’ Trust `EFL Years’ quiz online tonight. Seven o’clock sharp. So to get you in the mood, here’s a question about Morecambe FC from before this period. Ready? Right – what was unusual about the season ending in May 1967? Shall I give you the answer – or should I leave you to work it out for yourselves? Oh Gawd: decisions; decisions…
Fifth entertained sixth in League Two at the Mazuma Stadium this afternoon. Newport County arrived just one place and two points behind Morecambe but with a game in hand. When they met last October in Wales, the Exiles were top of League Two and looking pretty unassailable. On their mudheap of a pitch, though, they were lucky to win the game 2-1. But since then, the wheels have not so much fallen off as needed tweaking a bit.
Newport played their last home game at nearby Cardiff City’s ground and will play there again next Saturday, so much damage has Winter weather and the constant pounding by various Rugby teams (including hosts Gwent Dragons) done to the pitch at Rodney Parade. County have won three and lost just one of their last five league games but they only drew their last genuine home game against Stevenage and were beaten 0-2 by Forest Green Rovers the one before that three weeks ago. Maybe they play better away from home where the surfaces are bound to be superior. Having said that, FGR have possibly the best surface anywhere in the EFL and they clearly negotiated the mud in South Wales better than their hosts did on the day they met. Whilst Morecambe were drawing 2-2 on that pitch at the New Lawn last Tuesday, Michael Flynn’s team were winning at Cardiff 2-1 against Bradford City. In previous meetings, Newport have drawn four but lost seven of fifteen matches versus the Shrimps.
Morecambe have an identical recent record to today’s opponents: three wins and a draw in their last five League Two games. They are a tough nut to crack – particularly at `the Maz’ – or Mazuma Stadium if you prefer. The news that Jordan Slew will miss the rest of the season with a broken leg sustained in training was obviously a blow for the player, who has put-in some much-improved displays for the club recently. Given the permanent loss of Adam Phillips and what seems to be a serious knee injury to Brad Lyons, it is also another serious setback for a Manager already short of alternative choices for his first-team selection. Meanwhile, key player Aaron Wildig was remaining positive. He went on record this week about his team’s place near the top of League Two:
“I don’t think we’re there by fluke. This year, everything had fallen into place. Twelve games to go and I fancy us against anyone.”
His Manager, Derek Adams, added:
“Newport play a 3-5-2 formation. They have done very well this season, they’re in the play-off positions like ourselves. It’s extremely tight at the top of the league. You just have to look at it and you’ll see that there are going to be a lot of twists and turns between now and the end of the season. We’ve got 12 games to go and we’re going to give it a shot. We’ve put ourselves on 56 points and we just have to keep on plugging away.”
Today’s game saw former Morecambe favourite Pádraig Amond and Shrimps’ legend Kevin Ellison return to their former club. Pádraig scored last time out against us and Kev came on as a substitute late on. Would either of them have any influence on the result today? Manager Michael Flynn made an analogy between the first `Great Escape’ and the situation his club found itself in today prior to the match. Just four years ago, he saved the club from a position where they had just twelve games left to play but were eleven points adrift at the bottom of League Two when he took over from Sadim Graham Westley. (`Sadim’? – er: Midas – Touch – in reverse…) They survived on the day the season ended with almost literally the last kick of their final game. He said:
“It’s going to be a long eight weeks with all the games. And we almost need a finish now like the Great Escape one. You look at it, if we get 22 points from 12 games, which we had then, that gives us 76. That will surely put us somewhere close to it. It’s a crazy season for a number of reasons and it goes back to the Great Escape. That was a bizarre season as well because of the way we stayed up and how we managed to do it. It was unheard of really. There are not many who have done that in the history of English football. We’ve improved leaps and bounds on and off the pitch but that doesn’t mean we’ve got any given right to turn up and be given three points. It’s going to be an extremely difficult game against a Morecambe team who are absolutely flying. Derek has done a fantastic job there and I can’t be any more complimentary about how well they’ve done. It only takes a good run of form like Harrogate, Bolton or Bradford had. They were all struggling and now they’ve shot up the table. Fair play to them, but I just wish we’d had their form because we’d be promoted by now!”
Winter has returned to north Lancashire in recent days with strong winds, heavy rain and occasional hail storms. The surface at the Maz was soft and soon cut-up as the game got underway. Newport clearly won the toss and elected to play with the very strong wind blowing down the pitch off the sea to the north. But Morecambe looked like they meant business early on. In the first minute, John O’Sullivan tried to find Aaron Wildig with a pass from the Shrimps’ right into the left side of the visitors’ penalty area but Nick Townsend quickly came off his line to gather the ball. Then Sully picked-out Carlos Mendes-Gomes at the far post from the right flank again with just two minutes played. Carlos headed the ball back towards Cole Stockton but it went just behind the big centre forward and the chance was lost. Carlos then combined well repeatedly with Kelvin Mellor on the home team’s right and took a shot which spun just wide of Townsend right-hand post. After eight minutes, though, Skipper Sam Lavelle’s day started to go badly wrong. Yann Songo’o headed a corner clear only for the ball to be played back into the penalty area and hit Sam on the arm, possibly influenced by the wind. Referee Andrew Haines had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Matthew Dolan – who scored both of County’s goal against Bradford earlier in the week, one from the penalty spot right at the death – coolly struck the ball home into the bottom corner out of reach of a despairing dive from Kyle Letheren. Two minutes later, Letheren’s opposite number struggled to clear the ball as it was played back into the danger area after a Morecambe free-kick. But after eighteen minutes, Newport cleared a corner kick and the ball found its way to the Shrimps’ left. Songo’o played the ball to Mellor, got it back again, carried it forward about ten yards and then unleashed an unstoppable shot from a long way out which blasted into the Newport net like a rocket to even things up.
Twenty-two minutes were on the clock when Aaron Lewis tried his luck when the ball fell to him following a corner kick but the Morecambe stopper saved his shot easily. Then, five minutes later, Cole was foiled by a good clearing header as he seemed to be in after a free-kick. County Skipper Joss Labadie was presented with a clear scoring opportunity on the right side of the home penalty area from his point of view with half an hour played. But he belted the ball way well wide of the target. Shortly afterwards, Matty Dolan also tried his luck but struck the ball straight at Letheren, who saved without any problem. The pivotal moment of the match arrived after 36 minutes however. Sam Lavelle’s day went from bad to worse when he clearly fouled Ryan Taylor when the latter would have been clear on goal. Off he went – and that was that, really. The Welsh side took the lead again in injury time during the first half when Morecambe gave the ball away and Josh Sheehan took a shot from the Newport left which seemed to go though Letheren on the way into the net. I thought he should have saved it.
In the second half, County did just enough to keep Morecambe at bay, happy apparently to let them have the ball and strike on the break. Right on cue, Kevin Ellison came on as a substitute after sixty-eight minutes. And scored with a slightly deflected in the seventy-eighth minute. He ran straight up to the Morecambe Manager no doubt to remind him that there are still some tricks left in the old dog. And who can blame him? Derek didn’t respond – good for him too. A few minutes later, Kev set-up Labadie on the Newport left but he missed the target from an acute angle when he should have played the ball to a better-placed team-mate who was lurking in the middle of the goal. After that, the game more or less then just ran out of steam and there were no more scares for either team.
Newport are undoubtedly a fine side. It would have been a difficult job to beat them even with eleven men on the field today. But to face them with only ten for the best part of an hour was too steep a mountain for Morecambe to climb today. The Exiles’ double over the Shrimps propelled them into fourth position in League Two. The loss saw the Shrimps fall to seventh – but still in the Play-Off positions.
Here’s the answer to the poser at the beginning of the article. Stop reading now if you want to work it out for yourselves…
Morecambe were Champions of the Lancashire Combination in 1967. The Shrimps won the league by six whole points – the equivalent of three wins in those days. But they only played 41 games – an odd number in more ways than one. Everyone else bar one played 42. The other one was Skelmersdale United. The fixture at home against them was never played.
And my next question is: why not? I don’t actually know– but somebody out there will do…
Morecambe: 1 Kyle Letheren; 2 Kelvin Mellor; 5 Sam Lavelle (C) (R); 8 Toumani Diagouraga (20 Alex Denny 81’); 6 Harry Davis; 22 Liam Gibson (21 Ryan Cooney 64’); 9 Cole Stockton (19 Liam McAlinden 64’); 10 Aaron Wildig (18 Ben Pringle 81’); 11 Carlos Mendes-Gomes; 16 John O’Sullivan (3 Stephen Hendrie 64’); 24 Yann Songo’o.
Subs not used: 12 Mark Halstead; 23 Freddie Price.
Newport County: 30 Nick Townsend; 14 Aaron Lewis; 28 Mickey Demetriou; 8 Matthew Dolan; 6 Priestley Farquharson (15 David Longe-King 83’); 32 Liam Shephard; 17 Scot Bennett (22 Kevin Ellison 68’); 10 Josh Sheehan; 4 Joss Labadie (C); 9 Pádraig Amond (18 Nicky Maynard 68’); 29 Ryan Taylor (19 Dom Telford 86’).
Subs not used: 1 Tom King; 20 Anthony Hartigan; 27 Jake Scrimshaw.
Ref: Andy Haines.
