No Mercy for Grimsby Town from rampant Shrimps.
First of all, Happy Xmas and a hopefully better New Year to one and all. Allow me to share with you a joke I saw in a cracker yesterday: “Why is Cinderella no good at football?” Answer at the end of the article.
Anyway – Grimsby Town is a troubled football club. Two weeks ago, the BBC Sport website reported:
“On Monday, the club stated they would not accept investment from convicted fraudster Alex May. Grimsby Town boss Ian Holloway has said he has no intention of leaving the club unless “told to” and called on the club’s board and prospective investors to stop “playing politics”. Holloway, who posted his statement through a series of tweets, said: “Of late, developments away from the football itself have made it increasingly difficult to work to full potential on a day-to-day basis and, most importantly, place this club on an honest, positive, front footing. This is as frustrating to me as much as any fan.”
Given our history of two to three seasons ago, Morecambe supporters can empathise all too easily with this sentiment.
Setting this to one side however, the former Blackpool boss has subsequently decided that he had endured more than enough shenanigans off the pitch and wasn’t going to wait to be `told to’ go – despite what he had said less than two weeks earlier. `Olly’ thus packed it in as the Mariners’ Manager last Wednesday. This coincided with the announcement by John Fenty – one of the Directors who had persuaded him to take over last year as Manager in the first place – that he intended to sell his shares and thus sever all ties with Grimsby Town. Ironically, the deal he had struck to do this has apparently foundered. Nevertheless, Ian Holloway apparently decided that it was time to cash in his own chips and cut his own ties with the club – which he had also stated his intention to become a Director of – himself:
“Contact was made by the new owners to me on several occasions before the takeover, which I felt was inappropriate, and told them as such. This is the key factor in my decision. Why? The relationship between the incoming new owners, board and manager is so so important. It needs to be strong for a club to succeed, and we got off on the wrong footing. Therefore, that relationship will be strained from the off, which is bad for the club.”
Fair point – although some Grimsby fans think he has taken the opportunity to abandon a sinking ship because it was less challenging to him personally to do so than actually expend the effort and energy required to steady it. Whether there is any truth in this or not, the disarray off the field in Lincolnshire has replicated itself on it. Town arrived by the Lancashire west coast today on the back of three losses and a single win in their last five League Two games. That win, however, was against local rivals Scunthorpe last Saturday at Blundell Park: it was a derby victory which briefly lifted the mood by the side of the Humber on the other side of the country. Not for long, though. Last Tuesday, the Mariners reverted to form and slipped to another home defeat, this time to manager-less fellow-strugglers Bradford City. They were twenty-first in the league standings prior to kick-off today and just six points above the drop zone with bottom club Southend having one game and Stevenage in the other doomed position a whole two matches in hand over them. Now they have no Manager themselves. Even at this stage of the season, Grimsby already have nothing but survival in the EFL to play for this season. They are out of the EFL Trophy; they were humiliated by National League side Dagenham & Redbridge in the FA Cup and fell at the first hurdle in the League Cup as well in their initial game of the season on the fifth of September. This was on the North Sea coast and the victors then were today’s opponents. In previous meetings, Grimsby have been beaten in all competitions seven times altogether by the Shrimps, won five and drawn the remaining seven games. So for the Mariners, another defeat this afternoon was a belated Christmas present which nobody at the beleaguered Lincolnshire club could really bear to think about.
Morecambe, on the other hand, have won four of their last five league games and were seeking their fourth consecutive victory today as well as their sixth win in a row at the Mazuma Stadium in all competitions. Due to earlier kick-offs today, the Shrimps had dropped from fifth to seventh in League Two prior to kick-off but hopes were still high on and off the field for the continuation of their most impressive league campaign in recent seasons.
Ben Davies and Dave Moore were promoted from coaching the first team to take charge of the Mariners today. If they had anything to say before kick-off, I for one, am not aware of what it was.
Morecambe Manager Derek Adams assessed the position his team found themselves in before the game like this:
“To be on 31 points from 18 games is more than we could have ever asked for. It is a fantastic run of form that we are on and we want that to continue. You have to give the players the credit. You can see their enthusiasm, their will to win and their ability, and the joy they showed at winning the game on Saturday was terrific. You can see the confidence going right through the squad at the moment but we have to keep on going now.”
For a change, though, let’s also listen for a change to the words of the Shrimps’ goalkeeper, Mark Halstead:
“I had some injury problems last season and actually had an operation in the week leading up to what turned out to be the last game last season. I came back into pre season fully fit and waited for my chance. I feel as though I’m doing well at the minute so long may it continue. Whenever I’ve played before – particularly for Morecambe – we’ve been under a lot of pressure most games. At the moment though, we’re dominating games and personally I’m having very little to do, which is testament to the ten lads playing in front of me. When you’re not involved from a shot-stopping perspective it’s all about organising everyone in front of you. I try to be vocal and stay involved as much as I can. We’ve had three good results last week. If someone outside the club had looked at that week beforehand, they would say that nine points from those games would be exceeding expectations. But we have a lot of belief in the changing room at the moment and feel as though we could beat anybody. The games have all been tight score-wise but we are dominating every single one. Although we’re winning, I don’t think the score lines are reflecting our performances and it’s only a matter of time before we give someone a good thrashing.”
Perfect Storm? A club in disarray facing another one definitely on the up. Not a good analogy for those of us ancient enough to remember a time when Grimsby had the largest fishing fleet in Europe and to whom storms in all the meanings of the word would not be worth bothering about. Would the Mariners be the recipient of the `good thrashing’ Mark had predicted, though?
There was absolutely no sign of it in the opening half. It was wet and very windy as the match kicked-off and the inability of the players to adapt to the poor conditions spoilt the contest as a spectacle. Morecambe, facing into the gale, belatedly tried to keep the ball on the deck and actually play. Grimsby, meanwhile, were happy to lump the ball long and have nippy forwards Kyle Bennett, Matt Green and Mattie Pollock run after it. Bennett tried his luck after a quarter of an hour from a long way out with a shot which drifted well wide on the target. Three minutes later, from a free-kick in their own half, the ball went for a corner on the Town left flank. Bennett took it and swerved the ball beautifully under the Morecambe crossbar. Mark Halstead – desperately back-pedalling – threw a flailing arm at it; the ball hit the bar and bounced out for Pollock to nod it home unchallenged. Morecambe showed little in terms of creating close shaves for the visitors until the twenty-sixth minute. Then, following good approach play involving Adam Phillips and Jordan Slew on the left, Carlos Mendes-Gomes stooped to head the ball goalwards on the Shrimps’ right. It was cleared for a corner which came to nothing. The only other chance for either side worthy of note was in the thirty-eighth minute. The ball broke to Bennett again in a central position and his excellent low shot was well saved low down to his right by the home custodian. And that was basically it. Grimsby were probably just about deserving of the lead but too many Morecambe players – Aaron Wildig, Carlos and Cole Stockton for instance – were simply not at the races. To be fair to him though, Jordan Slew caught the eye on his return from suspension in place of the injured John O’Sullivan.
The rain relented and the wind dropped in time for the second half to start. This allowed a far better contest than we had seen in the first. To their credit, the visitors at no time looked as if they were here to try and cling on to their narrow lead: they tried to play constructively and at times, looked like a team with far too much about them to be wallowing near the bottom of the table. After 51 minutes, Captain James McKeown found himself in trouble when misjudging the bounce of a long ball from the Morecambe half but his defence came to his rescue on this occasion. Four minutes later, good approach play saw Wildig free on the right-hand side of the Grimsby penalty area from his point of view but he again uncharacteristically wasted the chance with a tame effort on goal. Fifty-seven minutes were on the clock when Slew bamboozled his marker on the Morecambe right and slung over a peach of a cross which Carlos headed home at the far post to equalise. From kick-off, the men in the red shirts went marauding again down their left flank and McKeown was forced to race from his goal to save bravely and effectively at the feet of Mendes-Gomes. The home team started to boss the game at this point with a succession of free-kicks and corners which Grimsby did well to repel. After 66 minutes, though, they created a chance of their own. Following some confusion in the Shrimps’ defence, Bennett was able to play the ball to Green, whose goal-bound shot was blocked. Two minutes later, the visiting goalkeeper was again deceived by the flight of the ball and struggled to push a free-kick from the Morecambe half over the bar. From the resulting corner, the ball found its way to Phillips whose cross was headed over the bar by Carlos as Sam Lavelle – far better placed behind him – was denied an easier chance. Seventy-one minutes had been played when Cole made one of his trademark turns in the box and slid the ball low towards the far post where Carlos joyously swept it home to put the Shrimps into the lead. Two minutes later, Stockton outpaced marker Luke Waterfall on the Morecambe left and unleashed a shot which went just wide of the far post with McKeown a spectator. As the visitors started to look increasingly uncertain at the back, Slew won another couple of corner kicks on the Morecambe right. The second of these was cleared through a sea of legs to Phillips whose instant shot from just outside the area was straight at the away goalkeeper. With seventy-six minutes played, Waterfall did well at full stretch to turn a dangerous cross from Slew on the Shrimps’ right away for another corner. Four minutes later, Phillips almost found Cole in a promising position in the centre of goal but his looped pass was just too high. Hearts were in Morecambe hearts, though, after 81 minutes when substitute George Williams fine free-kick from distance beat Halstead and hit his right-hand post only to bounce back into play and cause a reflex save from his own defender Harry Davis from the rebound. With the game almost over, Wildig again fluffed his lines when he couldn’t make his mind up whether to head or volley a cross which found him unmarked right in front of goal: he ended-up doing neither. But the game was finally settled in injury time when the same player found Carlos with a long-range pass; Carlos in turn picked-out Phillips with a lovely touch of his own – and Adam scored.
Three-one was maybe a bit flattering for the Shrimps and the visitors will draw heart from their gutsy display at times. The loss pushes them deeper into the mire, however: they were just three points above a rejuvenated Southend at the end of play in twenty-second place – and the Essex team also have a game in hand over them. Morecambe, meanwhile, went back up to fifth place in the table, just four points behind leading club Forest Green Rovers.
Oh – and “Why is Cinderella no good at football?”
Because her coach is a pumpkin…
Morecambe: 12 Mark Halstead; 3 Stephen Hendrie; 5 Sam Lavelle (C); 6 Harry Davis; 24 Yann Songo’o (Y); 10 Aaron Wildig; 11 Carlos Mendes-Gomes; 20 Adam Phillips; 21 Ryan Cooney; 9 Cole Stockton (Y); 7 Jordan Slew (8 Toumani Diagouraga 85’).
Subs not used: 1 Jake Turner; 19 Liam McAlinden; 4 Nathaniel Knight-Percival; 17 A-Jay Leitch-Smith; 14 Alex Kenyon; 22 Liam Gibson.
Grimsby Town: 1 James McKeown (C); 2 Luke Hendrie; 6 Luke Waterfall; 7 Matt Green (10 George Williams 76’); 22 Elliott Hewitt; 3 Danny Preston; 18 Filipe Morais (21 James Tilley 76’); 15 Harry Clifton; 37 Kyle Bennett (20 Owura Edwards72’); 16 Ira Jackson Jr (12 Montel Gibson 67’); 25 Mattie Pollock.
Subs not used: 23 Sam Russell; 4 Danny Rose; 14 Luke Spokes.
Ref: Declan Bourne.
