Morecambe “Have a striker who is scoring for fun. We need to be mindful of that!”
Lincoln City visited the Mazuma Stadium this evening with virtually an identical record so far in League One to hosts Morecambe. Both clubs have played nine games and accumulated eleven points so far. They have both lost two of their last five league games; won two and drawn the other. The Shrimps were one place ahead of the Imps (sixteenth) only on goal difference. Morecambe’s record, historically, is poor against City: of fourteen previous games in all competitions, they have only won two and lost seven.
Michael Appleton led his men to The League One Play-Offs at Wembley earlier this year. The day before Morecambe beat Newport County at the same venue, City took the lead against Blackpool. And then lost. In more recent history, Mr Appleton again led his men to what turned-out to be an excellent victory at Burton last Saturday against a club previously unbeaten at home. Of tonight’s game, he said:
“Morecambe have made a great start, they have the momentum behind them. They’re well organised and have a striker who is scoring for fun. We need to be mindful of that and have the same resolute attitude like we had on Saturday.”
His opposite Number, Stephen Robinson, said:
“It is a big game for us, we are right beside each other in the table and they will be thinking the same. Lincoln are a very good side. They started slowly but have started to get a few results under their belt. Every game is a tough game in this division. It is a huge incentive to get a victory that would see us move up the table.”
As far as his own club’s progression so far this season is concerned, he added:
“This season has been a bit of a rollercoaster hasn’t it? But what desire we have! If I am a Morecambe fan and I see the desire these players play with, I’d be quietly content I think.”
Autumn has arrived with a vengeance this week in North Lancashire and there was overnight rain and even heavy hail at times overnight. The rain persisted during the day with some torrential downpours but the game kicked-off under heavy skies in the darkness above and stayed dry throughout. All the officials and players – with the notable exception of Imps’ Skipper Liam Bridcutt – Took the Knee before kick-off and away we went. Lincoln are a good side and they play the Beautiful Game in the right way. No play-acting; no time wasting; no nasty tackles. The game was goal-less at half time and neither goalkeeper had a save of any difficulty to make. But this was far from a bore draw. In Bridcutt, City have a Pocket Dynamo who reads the game well; marshals his team-mates effectively and uses the ball brilliantly. He was constantly prompting Lincoln to play intelligent, effective football throughout the game. But for the home team, Toumani Diagouraga was just as influential and he had another outstanding match tonight.
Liam Gibson looked initially as if he was going to be in for a torrid time again tonight as big, quick and skilful Daniel N’Lundulu turned him inside-out on the Lincoln right and set up a chance which was blocked for a corner after just two minutes. But Liam improved as the game grew older and N’Lundulu’s chief contribution to tonight’s entertainment was when he had a clear run on the home goal in the second half only to be denied by a brilliant, brave save from Shrimps’ stopper Kyle Letheren. This was after fifty minutes when the game was still goal-less and it turned out to be a key moment in the contest. It was miss that the visitors almost immediately came to regret as Goal Machine Cole Stockton conjured a goal from nothing, winning the ball in the middle of the pitch, making brilliant progress forwards past defenders left floundering in his wake before unleashing a tremendous strike from all of 25 yards which gave Josh Griffiths in the visiting goal absolutely no chance at all. It was end-to-end after that for some time and you had a feeling that Lincoln were far from beaten. They had what seemed to me at least to be a good shout for a penalty turned-down by Referee Ben Toner after just two minutes of the re-start: I thought that Anthony Scully was clearly fouled in the Morecambe area. Letheren then made another really good save from a long-range shot by Lewis Fiorini after almost an hour. But Morecambe’s lead was made more secure when, following a free-kick from their left, substitute Ryan Delaney headed the ball back across the penalty area from the far side and the big defender spun brilliantly and buried his first strike for the club past a helpless Griffiths. This was after 79 minutes but still the visitors didn’t give up. They had a couple of shots blocked late on in the game but the hosts also had chances at the other end.
So – at the end – it was two goals and three points to the Shrimps. I’m sure the Imps were mindful of their Manager’s warning about Cole Stockton – but with the striker in the form he is currently, dealing with him is far easier said then done. It was a really good win because Lincoln are a clearly a decent team who can play a bit. For me, the only disappointing performance for the Shrimps tonight was by Adam Phillips. He had a really poor game throughout his time on the field; constantly over-hitting the ball from a succession of set pieces and noticeably failing ever to drop back to help recover it when Morecambe lost possession. This is something he needs to work on urgently: his consistency – and perhaps his attitude generally – leaves a lot of questions unanswered in my opinion.
But, more positively, the win pushed the Shrimps up the table to eleventh place in League One tonight. City, meanwhile, slipped to seventeenth.
Morecambe: 1 Kyle Letheren; 2 Ryan McLaughlin (Y); 4 Anthony O’Connor (C); 7 Wes McDonald (15 Ryan Delaney 76’); 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 9 Cole Stockton; 18 Adam Phillips (6 Callum Jones 64’); 22 Liam Gibson; 24 Arthur Gnahoua (17 Jonah Ayunga 82’); 25 Alfie McCalmont; 31 Scott Wootten.
Subs Not Used: 20 Jökull Andrésson; 16 Jacob Mensah; 11 Josh McPake; 21 Ryan Cooney.
Lincoln City: 1 Josh Griffiths; 2 Regan Poole; 4 Lewis Montsma; 11 Anthony Scully; 14 Hakeeb Adelukan (12 Ted Bishop 45’); 19 Lewis Fiorini; 20 Daniel N’Lundulu (17 Remy Longdon 76’); 21 Lasse Sorensen (15 Cohen Bramall 65’); 22 T J Eyoma; 23 Liam Bridcutt (C); 24 Jamie Robson.
Subs Not Used: 31 Sam Long; 5 Adam Jackson; 6 Max Sanders; 37 Oisin Gallagher.
Ref: Ben Toner.
Att: 3,466 (241 from Lincoln.)
