Accrington Beaten At Last At The Maz.
Accrington Stanley travelled from East Lancashire to the Irish Sea coast in the north of the county tonight to face bottom of the table Morecambe in League One. Stanley are without any doubt the Shrimps’ all-time Bogey Team. They have faced each other twenty-six times altogether in the EFL so far and Morecambe have only won a truly feeble two of these matches. Stanley have won an astonishing fifteen, most recently in the reverse fixture in October when they ran-out comfortable winners 3-1 against the Shrimps’ ten men (Arthur Gnahoua was sent-off just before half time for a stupid and unnecessary foul on Mitch Clark.) Last season, having raced into a 0-2 lead at the Crown Ground, Stephen Robinson’s team once again capitulated and conceded two goals to finally draw the game – a reflection of the earlier match at the Maz, which ended three goals each.
So if there has ever been a time when the Shrimps needed to reverse their fortunes against talismanic former Morecambe striker John Coleman’ s men, today was it. Derek Adams’ side has lost its last two league games and three out of five altogether in recent times; the other two ending in draws. On Boxing Day, against a pretty mediocre Port Vale team, they contrived not only to lose 1-0 but look more like a non-league team in the second half in particular than one with whatever is needed to reverse their fortunes of recent times. The fear is that they are simply not good enough – individually or collectively – to avoid relegation for the first time in their history.
Accrington, meanwhile, have serious worries of their own this season. They arrived at the Maz in twentieth position in League One; just one point clear of the relegation zone. Having said that, Accy have not lost in their last five away games. On Boxing Day, they needed a penalty to equalise against high-flying Barnsley in a game that ended 1-1 at the Crown. But Stanley have won only one of their last five league games and drawn three of them. So they were also in need of a few points to stop them falling into the mire at the bottom of League One. Morecambe’s pretty dire position at quarter to eight this evening was underlined by the fact that they were already adrift of their visitors by seven points and have also played a game more.
John Coleman had this to say before the match:
“This is probably the biggest derby game I have been involved in because the stakes are so high. If you look at Morecambe, this season (they only) lose by the odd goal. They’ve been unlucky. I expect them to come at us head-on. So we have to try and do exactly the same. They’re generally good games against Morecambe, they’re generally entertaining games. I’ve got a lot of affection for Morecambe from my playing days there. I like Derek. He’s a footy nut. I like people who are like that; who are obsessed with football. He’s a good guy. I know myself from when resources are limited here that you get grief from all angles and people don’t really realise what you’re going through unless you’re in the thick of it.”
For Morecambe – facing Accrington for the first time ever at home – King Derek said this:
“We’re always looking forward to being at home. They’re always good games and I think the supporters look forward to it. It’s a derby match; a night-time game will draw-in a big crowd and the atmosphere will be very good.”
He confirmed that Jake Taylor would be missing for the next four to five weeks with a thigh strain and also said two unspecified players were carrying knocks after the Port Vale clash and might miss the match along with Donald Love, who was sent off last Monday.
It has been wet in north Lancashire for the last few days. Today, it was mercifully dry albeit murky and cold with it. The visitors – playing in a white strip with black shorts – kicked-off and went straight onto the attack towards their own fans and won a corner kick within sixty seconds which the home team cleared. After five minutes, Liam Gibson’s shot in the away penalty area was blocked only for Stanley to launch a lightning-fast counter-attack which petered-out as they reached the home danger area. With twelve minutes played, the visitors won a corner kick on their left. The ball was hit long and Ryan Astley’s looping header cleared Connor Ripley in the home goal only to be headed clear by Cole Stockton, who was standing on the goal-line. Another chance for Stanley was then prevented by a perfect sliding tackle by Farrend Rawson in his own penalty area a couple of minutes later. At the other end, Accrington lost possession immediately after this and the Shrimps hit them on a rapid counter-attack which led to a corner, which was wasted. Kieran Phillips then set-up Ryan Cooney to motor up the Morecambe right and force a another corner. Toby Savin in the away goal flapped at this and was lucky that his weak clearance was booted away by his own defenders. In the twenty-fourth minute, the impressive Rosaire Longelo attacked down the Stanley left and sent over a cross which Connor punched away. A couple of minutes later, the always busy Joe Pritchard set-up Tommy Leigh for a long-range shot which went over the bar. With almost half and hour played, Longelo went on a mazy run oh his left and – as Morecambe players stood-off him – unleashed a shot which drew an excellent stop from Ripley which Ryan Delaney swept away for a corner. Then Longelo got the better of Cooney on the Accrington left again and lobbed over a cross which Max Melbourne completely sliced high and wide for a corner to the visitors. Just after this – on 33 minutes – Jensen Weir broke from his own half on the right and found Cole Stockton on the left further up the field with an excellent long ball. Cole held it up brilliantly and played a killer pass into space on the Shrimps’ right which Liam Shaw ran into, took on a Stanley defender and then somehow squeezed the ball home past Toby Savin from close range at a very acute angle high to the goalkeeper’s right to open the scoring. Two minutes later, Pritchard’s effort was deflected to Ripley’s right for a corner. Melbourne had to leave the field with an injury after forty minutes but Derek Adams’ attacking attentions were shown when he replaced him with young Adam Mayor, who then proceeded to give a Master Class in the art of defending for the rest of the game. Two minutes after this, Cole was again instrumental as he held the ball up on the left and this time found Cooney on the right. Ryan then showed commendable determination to get the better of not just one but two defenders. He slid the ball across the penalty area to Jensen who smashed it home to give Morecambe the largest league lead they have enjoyed so far this season.
So the home team retired to the Dressing Rooms in a very unusual position these days. In the lead by not just one but two goals – and against their bitterest of all rivals into the bargain.
A third goal would obviously be pivotal in this contest. If Accrington got it, it would be Match On. If Morecambe scored it, it would be Match Over. In a scrappy half littered with fouls, though, the visitors never managed to generate a head of steam. Any onslaught which was expected from Stanley failed to materialise. In fact, Morecambe went straight onto the attack right from kick-off. After 56 minutes, Pritchard crudely brought-down Mayor near the half-way line. Adam was about to break away and the Accrington player seemed lucky only to get a yellow card. This is ironic because if he had been sent-off, he wouldn’t have slipped and clearly seriously injured himself in the eighty-fifth minute. In tears, he was carried off on a stretcher. In the meantime, Ripley made routine saves from the unlucky Stanley man after 51 minutes and 67 minutes respectively. But the visitors never really seriously tested the Morecambe rearguard this evening. The nearest they came to reducing the arrears was when substitute Leslie Adekoya headed wide when it seemed easier to find the back of the net after seventy-nine minutes. Fellow-sub Josh Woods also took a weak shot at goal with 83 minutes played which Ripley easily dealt with. But Stanley’s lacklustre performance was probably summed-up by Ethan Hamilton’s shot after 75 minutes which went straight over the stand roof and then when a cross from the Accrington left a minute later flew straight into the home fans. How we jeered…
At the other end, Cooney’s low cross from the Morecambe right was intercepted just in time by Savin before Cole the Goal got there with only two minutes of the re-start played. After 66 minutes, Mayor’s fierce shot seemed to have the sting taken out of it by an Accrington foot and Savin was able to hold onto it quite easily. In the final minute, Stockton again held the ball up well but his pass to Weir was blocked by the away defence. In the final minute of injury time, Mayor then set-up our Number Nine for another attempt which Savin did well to keep out.
So that was it – job done. Morecambe were the better team tonight and John Coleman was probably the most concerned of the two Managers involved at the end of the game. Accrington fell into the relegation mix in 21st place in League One as a result of tonight’s defeat. Elsewhere, Burton – Morecambe’s next opponents at home of New Year’s Day – won 1-2 at Forest Green Rovers in a crunch relegation battle. So FGR are just two points ahead of the Shrimps, who have a game in hand over them as well. The non-Wombles lost at Peterborough, 2-0 and are just three points better off than Morecambe tonight. So the pack at the bottom of League One was well and truly shuffled tonight. Derek Adams’ team remain bottom but are now just four points shy of safety. The man himself had this to say after the match:
“I just thought over the night it was a fabulous performance from the players. Five games at home now undefeated. It was just a terrific display of how to play football. The goals were absolutely out of this world. Overall, a really top performance tonight.”
Morecambe: 1 Connor Ripley (C); 3 Max Melbourne (25 Adam Mayor 40’); 4 Liam Gibson; 5 Farrend Rawson; 6 Ryan Delaney; 9 Cole Stockton; 15 Jensen Weir; 16 Jacob Bedeau (16)17 Caleb Watts 79’); 20 Liam Shaw; 21 Ryan Cooney 23 Kieran Phillips (14 Arthur Gnahoua 71’).
Subs not used: 12 Adam Smith; 8 Ousmane Fané; 11 Dylan Connolly; 22 Anthony O’Connor.
Accrington Stanley: 40 Toby Savin; 2 Mitchell Clark; 4 Ethan Hamilton; 5 Ryan Astley (Y) (42 Leslie Adekoya 62’); 6 Liam Coyle (22 Dan Martin 87’); 7 Shaun Whalley (39 Josh Woods 62’); 8 Tommy Leigh; 10 Joe Pritchard; 14 Rosaire Longelo (11 Sean McConvill 72’); 16 Harvey Rodgers (Y); 28 Seamus Conneely (C).
.Subs not used: 1 Lukas Jensen; 17 Jack Nolan; 21 Harry Perritt.
Ref: Sebastian Stockbridge.
Att: 4,191(500 from Accrington.)
