Morecambe Matchzone

Morecambe 2:4 Preston North End

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Preston North End Morecambe’s Hopes…

Preston North End visited the Mazuma Stadium for the very first time tonight to see if they could achieve what their fellow-members of the Championship – Blackburn Rovers – had failed to do at Ewood Park two weeks ago: dump Morecambe out of the League Cup. The Lilywhites arrived on the back of a stuttering start to their own Championship campaign. Although they beat Peterborough United by the only goal of the game last Saturday, they had lost all three of their league matches before that. Their only victory prior to beating Posh was when they got the better of League Two Mansfield 0-3 in Nottinghamshire in the previous round of this evening’s competition.

Morecambe’s form, conversely, has been almost diametrically opposite to their visitors’ so far. They started well but their form has dropped-off with two defeats in the last two games. Manager Steven Robinson has been plagued by injuries and the need this has created to constantly shuffle his squad. Greg Leigh wasn’t risked last week against Rotherham because of twinges to an old hamstring injury. Kyle Letheren was hurt in the warm-up for that game and his absence has meant a return to the subs’ bench for club icon and current Goalkeeping Coach Barry Roche. Aaron Wildig and Jonathan Obika have been unavailable for selection all season so far due to injury; Ryan Delaney is barely recovered from being hurt in the Shrimps’ opening league match at Ipswich and Liam Gibson won’t be available for some time either after picking-up an obviously really painful injury at Blackburn. Tonight, then, Robbo had little option other than to throw new players into the fray yet again. The games are coming thick and fast and the Morecambe Manager’s greatest worry currently must be not just finding his strongest starting eleven from a squad still getting used to playing alongside each other but also to ensure they all remain fit into the bargain.

Previous clashes between the two clubs have all been in cup competitions. Morecambe won the first one of these – in the League Cup – 1-2 in the League Cup during 2007 at Deepdale but they have lost every one of their four subsequent meetings.

Stephen Robinson – who once played for North End – said before tonight’s latest contest:

“It is a nice draw and it is one that I wanted; either Preston or Stoke. A home game is what we wanted and Preston gives us a good opportunity for us to test ourselves. They struggled to get off the mark with a win but did at the weekend. They have a lot of depth in their squad. Make no mistake it is a tough game but we’re going to go out there and enjoy ourselves. The next two games are going to be a full house and it just shows the direction the club is heading in. The atmosphere in the last two home games has been excellent. It helps a lot and there is a great feeling around the football club. Win, lose or draw, we will continue to stay level-headed. We know what we set out to achieve at the start of the season and I don’t get too carried away when we win.”

Opposite number Frankie McAvoy assessed the task facing his men this evening with these words the day before the match:

“It’ll be a tough game. Stephen Robinson’s been and done really, really well. He was excellent in Scotland with Motherwell, he did extremely well up there. He’s a good experienced manager and he’s got his team very well organised, very structured, difficult to beat, and to be fair it’ll be a tough game. They knocked Blackburn out in the last round. I said when we played Mansfield Town, these games are all tough, you’ve got to earn the right to go and win and I expect nothing but a really hard game tomorrow night. I know we’ve sold all our tickets to go there which is absolutely fantastic for the Preston fans and I just hope we’re capable of delivering a positive result tomorrow night for them.”

Mr McAvoy had worries, too, about the current unavailability of some of his own key players. Former Morecambe favourite Tom Barkhuizen along with team-mates

Alan Browne, Ched Evans and Liam Lindsay have all been affected by the Covid pandemic and none of them was available for selection tonight.

It had been a beautiful, warm sunny day in Morecambe today and the town was packed with visitors earlier on. The Maz was also packed as the game kicked-off on a balmy almost windless evening. The first half was a good game to watch with both teams going for the win and very little negative play from either side. Morecambe had the first chance after six minutes when a corner was cleared only for the ball to be played in again from the left flank to the far post where Captain Sam Lavelle headed straight at Declan Rudd in the visitors’ goal when he might have done better. The ball went straight up to the other end; Preston played it into the space between the centre backs and an unmarked Sepp van den Berg swept it home beautifully past a helpless Jökull Andrésson. It was a poor goal to give away. But the second one the hosts conceded was even worse. The young goalkeeper dived along the ground in his own penalty area just as Skipper Lavelle was sliding in from the opposite direction. The goalkeeper got the ball; there was a sickening collision between the two of them and the ball slipped – or was probably jarred – out of his hands for a grateful van den Berg to double his tally for the night with a simple tap-in. In the meantime, there had been a couple of chances for North End as Brad Potts warmed the home goalie’s hands with a fairly tame shot after ten minutes and the young Icelander did well to punch away Ryan Ledson’s free kick ten minutes later. There had been a break in play after about 25 minutes when one of the EFL’s better Referees – James Oldham – was forced to retire with some sort of injury. Paul Graham took over and what appeared to be Father Xmas with a trimmed beard ran the line – well done that man because he looked absolutely ancient. Mr Graham’s inexperience in controlling things soon became obvious. When PNE were awarded a free kick by him on their left shortly after he took over, for instance, he took the Shaving Cream out of his back pocket and sprayed a line where the ball should be placed. Then he paced-out ten yards and sprayed another line on the pitch for the Morecambe defenders to stand behind. And as he was doing so, North End players moved the ball two feel nearer. Cat-calls from the home crowd drew his attention to this and the visitors relented by moving the ball back a foot. Yes – just twelve inches. And he let them do it. I suspect he was also in two minds when Preston scored their second goal. A more experienced referee would certainly have stopped the play when Lavelle and Andrésson collided – they were clearly both genuinely hurt. But he didn’t do that either.

A less determined team than the Shrimps might well have thrown the towel in after this unluckiest of ways to fall two goals behind. Instead – roared on by the home crowd – the men in the red shirts started to try to get back on terms. As half time approached it was All Hands To The Pump for Preston as they struggled to clear a corner. Minutes later – as the match entered Extra Time as the five minutes which resulted from the painful collision between two of Morecambe’s key players were added-on, the home team went one better. From a free kick which the men in the white shirts just couldn’t clear, Anthony O’Connor forced the ball over the line to reduce the arrears to a single goal.

It was a great time to score – just before half time. Whoever scored the next goal would surely go on to win…

Morecambe had the first chance. Courtney Duffus – thrown in at the deep end after playing at non-league level just two weeks ago – showed a couple of really deft touches tonight and he tested Rudd in the visitors’ goal after 49 minutes with a shot which was pushed away from the danger area. Potts immediately missed the target at the other end with a low shot. They came much closer after fifty-three minutes when Daniel Johnson forced an absolutely top drawer save at full length from Andrésson with a thunderbolt of a strike from far out on the Preston left. But the stadium – noisy at both ends throughout the game – exploded when Cole Stockton had the skill to elude the tight marking which held him in a stranglehold most of the night and smashed home a well-deserved equaliser as he latched onto a low ball into the penalty area. Momentum was definitely on the side of the Shrimps at this point in the proceedings.

But it seemed to me that from this point on, North End simply stepped up a gear. They played at a faster pace; they pressed harder and further up the pitch – and Morecambe, in all truth – had little answer to them. Cole put the ball in the net again in injury time only to see it immediately chalked off – he was offside, I think. But by that time, the match was well and truly done and dusted. Preston retook the lead just five minutes after being pegged-back to equality with a sumptuous half–volley from Ryan Ledson right into the top corner of the net. Then Sepp van den Berg (Boo!) removed any doubt with another goal ten minutes from time. Morecambe huffed and puffed. But Preston, for me, always had the edge.

During the second half, I lost count of the number of times Ryan Cooney delayed taking throw-ins – and then immediately gifted possession of the ball to the opposition. He had a poor match by his standards this evening and two attempts he had on goal in both halves were almost remarkably woeful. This, in my opinion, was the fundamental difference between the two teams tonight: North End didn’t make basic errors such as these.

However, let’s not be all downcast and doom and gloom. Morecambe played some really good stuff at times tonight. For brief periods, they were the better team. Toumani Diagouraga was imperious yet again – probably the outstanding player on the field tonight. Cole scored once more and the goalkeeper – despite the calamitous nature of the second goal – looked to be already in a different class: at just nineteen years of age. Robbo must be encouraged by a lot of what he saw. To be beaten by a Championship team is no disgrace – and Preston will know that they were in a proper game tonight. Good luck to them in the next round.

Morecambe: 20 Jökull Andrésson; 21 Ryan Cooney; 5 Sam Lavelle (C); 4 Anthony O’Connor; 3 Greg Leigh; 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 28 Courtney Duffus (Y) (18 Adam Phillips 79’); 24 Arthur Gnahoua (7 Wes McDonald 75’); 19 Shane McLaughlin (11 Josh McPake 79’); 9 Cole Stockton; 25 Alfie McCalmont.

Subs Not Used:  30 Barry Roche; 6 Callum Jones; 16 Jacob Mensah; 31 Scott Wootten.

Preston North End: 1 Declan Rudd; 2 Sepp van den Berg (Y); 14 Jordan Storey; 16 Andrew Hughes (Y); 15 Joe Rafferty (5 Patrick Bauer 73’); 44 Brad Potts; 18 Ryan Ledson (Y); 11 Daniel Johnson (7 Tom Bayliss 82’); 3 Greg Cunningham; 31 Scott Sinclair (24 Sean Maguire 58’); 19 Emil Riis Jakobsen.

Subs Not Used: 12 Daniel Iversen; 4 Ben Whiteman; 32 Josh Earl; 17 Lewis Leigh; 40 Jamie Thomas.

Ref: James Oldham (Paul Graham from 33’).

Att: 4,334 (1,774 from Preston).

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