So So So Near for So So Solihull…
National League club Solihull Moors faced Morecambe for the first time ever today in a bid to win through to the Third Round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history. They did so as a result of their commendable win against League Two club Scunthorpe United by the odd goal in five in the First Round. The team arrived in Lancashire on the back of a very curious situation, which would be simply unimaginable this time last year. They haven’t played since November 11th, when they won 0-2 away at Altrincham in the league. But their subsequent three games – against AFC Halifax, Torquay and Weymouth for league points – have all been postponed and the team and staff have had to self-isolate. This is due to the Coronavirus. Jimmy Shan, their Manager, has suffered from this himself along with a couple of the club’s first-team players. He said this about his own experience:
“To be honest with you, I struggled a bit. It hit me quite hard. I had a couple of days in bed on the spin. Then I had a period where I felt well for a day – and unwell for a day.”
Aston Villa loanee Cameron Archer has also been troubled by the Pandemic. He had to return to his parent club to avoid the outbreak among his team-mates and also so that he could continue to train. Only to find that the virus had also erupted in the digs Villa had allotted to him. So today’s was both the Manager’s and his players’ first outing since the viral ban. How would the break affect them? Would the unscheduled rest benefit them against a team that has been playing three games a week on average since the start of the season? Or would they be ring-rusty due to lack of practice? Only time would tell…
It is 2003 since Morecambe got as far as the Third Round at a time when they were still a non-league club themselves. They lost four-nil to then Premiership Ipswich at Portman Road on that occasion; shipping one more goal than they had done against the same team two years earlier at Christie Park in their previous venture to this illustrious third stage of the FA Cup. In all competitions, Derek Adams’ team had won two and drawn two of their last five games before today, including the 0-1 win at Maldon & Tiptree in the previous round of this tournament. At Salford last Tuesday night, though, they lost 2-1 to provoke an uncharacteristically angry reaction after the game from Manager Adams. He was understandably furious about the blatantly cynical way City had employed all of football’s Darker Arts on the night – and got away with it. It wasn’t cricket. Well – that’s true. But he’s right, nevertheless. We must have all hoped beforehand that today’s match was going to be played in a more positive and sporting manner…
Moors Manager Jimmy Shan had this to say about the significance of today’s game before kick-off:
“It would be a massive step in the right direction if we could progress this football club into Round Three. (Morecambe) are going quite well within League Two; they have some good, experienced players and a good game style themselves. But we will be doing everything we possibly can to maximise our opportunities and chances of getting into Round Three most definitely.”
His opposite number summed-up the task facing Morecambe today thus:
“They are a very good outfit. They play expansively from the point of the view that they get the ball from the goalkeeper; try and build out from the back and play forward from there. They have got variations in their systems of play and they have experienced players in their side that have played at the top level; naming a few in Pearce, Gleeson and Adam Rooney. They want to prove themselves again against a league side. We’re in no doubt how difficult a game it is.”
Mr Shan was unable to name an injured Adam Rooney in his squad today due to injury. But Jordan Cranston – released by the Shrimps right at the beginning of the season – was able to line-up against his last employers. Was he about to embarrass the Manager who let him go? Good news for Morecambe was that A-Jay Leitch-Smith was fit enough to be named on the substitutes’ bench. Good news for everybody was that Morecambe sponsors Mazuma again provided shirts for the Shrimps’ players to wear which featured the local Hospice: St John’s. Good for them.
There was more than the kudos which goes in with being drawn out of the hat with English football’s Big Boys in the next round at stake at the Mazuma Stadium today. In terms of hard cash, ties like this could alone provide a lifeline for the club in these tough COVID-19 restricted times. The TV fee of £37,500 was already in the bag – this game again went out live on the BBC Red Button and BT Sport. But would Morecambe emerge with a further £25,500 for winning the game or £8,000 for just taking part?
It didn’t look like the bigger fee for the first half an hour or so. Under overcast skies, the club from the West Midlands were all over them. In the very first minute, beanpole of a Centre Forward – Kyle Hudlin – headed just wide of the Morecambe goal for the visitors. Moors had clearly arrived with a Game Plan to which he was literally central: get the ball across to him and see what happens. However, the first really good chance of the game fell to his opposite number. After nine minutes, Cole Stockton turned quickly in the Solihull penalty area and unleashed a shot which Ryan Boot in the visitors’ goal did brilliantly to get down low to his right and push away. Shortly after this, Ryan Cooney needed treatment on the pitch after he was flattened by team-mate Yann Songo’o, who was in the wars with his own men again later in the half. Down the other end, Jake Turner made a routine save from an optimistic strike from distance by Stephen Gleeson after twelve minutes. From a free kick in a good position, Jamey Osborne then curled a poor shot over the Shrimps’ crossbar with fourteen minutes on the clock. A quarter of an hour had been played when Boot fumbled a half-hearted header-come-punt forward by Aaron Wildig. But the nightmare which was beginning to develop before Morecambe fans’ eyes began to materialise after eighteen minutes. On their left flank, an unmarked Jordan Cranston took a shot from a long way out on the Moors’ Left. Turner failed to deal with a routine shot; Hudlin was quickest to react and the League Two team found themselves one-nil down as he walloped the loose ball into the net. From the Shrimps’ point of view, this was pathetic: it was an appalling goal to concede. But it soon could have got worse: much, much worse. Just a minute later, Moors could have been two-nil up. More poor defending allowed Cranston a free header on the Solihull left which hit Turner’s right post. The ball then rolled agonisingly along the goal line before Songo’o was finally able to boot it clear of the danger zone. Signs that things weren’t going their way began to appear as well at times as the home team clearly lost not only their discipline but their tempers as well. Songo’o squared-up to Osborne after the latter had committed a crude challenge on Aaron Wildig with twenty minutes played and Wildig himself was cautioned shortly afterwards for a poor challenge of his own. Then the visitors went close again after twenty-two minutes as Hudlin was just unable to get a firm enough touch to Mitch Hancox’s low cross from the Moors’ left flank. Two minutes later, Songo’o was flattened as Cole Stockton clashed heads with him clearing yet another goal-bound effort off the Morecambe goal-line: Stockton was himself badly cut and had to play the rest of the match heavily bandaged and with a fresh shirt. Shortly after this, the visitors’ leading scorer, Joe Sbarra, went down off the ball and indicated to the bench that he couldn’t continue. This was a clear blow for the men in the yellow shirts as he had been very influential in midfield for them so far. Solihull had dominated possession and the game had been played mostly in the home team’s half. With Sbarra gone, things gradually began to change. It seemed to me that Songo’o deliberately stamped on Hudlin’s ankle after about half an hour and got away with it but it didn’t stop the tall man testing Turner once more after forty minutes. But as the home team very belatedly began to get their act together, the last ten minutes were a far more even affair. Sam Lavelle’s effort from a corner after 44 minutes was blocked and after a bad foul by Hancox, Songo’o’s powerful header was turned away for a corner by Boot: it was another really good save. But the half ended with Solihull Moors by far the better team. Morecambe had fallen for their tactics – hustling whilst playing on the front foot – and were lucky to go in only one goal in arrears.
Derek Adams must have read the Riot Act to his underperforming charges during the break. Jake Turner was replaced by Mark Halstead in goal after his first half howler and the ineffectual Jordan Slew gave way to Stephen Hendrie. The team in the red strip went onto the front foot right from kick-off. There was more argy-bargy after Stockton clearly trod on a particularly sensitive part of the aptly-named Cameron Coxe’s body in a man-to-man challenge. There is no way he did this deliberately but it made even my eyes’ water: no wonder the poor lad took so long to get up again. But the destiny of the game started to change after 51 minutes. After another poor challenge, Morecambe took a quick free-kick in their own half. Carlos Mendes-Gomes – with his back to goal – played a perfect cushioned header in the direction the ball had come from and Cole Stockton hammered the ball home with a tremendous volley: it was an outstanding way to draw level. But having equalised, the Shrimps almost immediately committed Hari-kari. Kelvin Mellor inexplicably played the ball to Hudlin, who was in an on-side position behind him. The Solihull Centre Forward drew Morecambe’s substitute goalkeeper and played the ball around him… only for Captain Sam to appear from nowhere to miraculously divert the goal-bound ball away for a corner kick. Almost an hour had been played when the visiting goalkeeper was again called into action: Boot again did well to handle a low cross from the Shrimps’ left cleanly. Almost immediately afterwards, the hosts were on the attack again. The ball was played to Stockton in the Moors’ penalty area; he passed it right to Adam Phillips who immediately passed it back to him again – and Cole buried it to make it a brace on the day. But the visitors weren’t beaten yet: far from it. Coxe went on an excellent run down the Solihull right after 66 minutes and played-in a cross which only just eluded substitute Cameron Archer. The ball went straight down the other end; Wildig also went down in the penalty area – and Referee Benjamin Speedie (who I thought had an excellent game today) just gave a corner. From this, the ball found its way to Archer who again sprinted up the field with it; looked to his right and played it to the nearest unmarked player in a yellow strip to him. That man was Jordan Cranston and he must have felt like he was on Cloud Nine as he swept the ball home against his former club to equalise. Nobody could argue that Jimmy Shan’s side didn’t deserve it. After that though, it seemed to me that the Midlands lads began to gradually run out of steam. They started to play just on the counter-attack and the game was increasingly being confined to their half of the field. Cole wasted a golden opportunity for a hat-trick after Wildig fed him after 75 minutes; missed again a minute later after excellent inter-passing by the home team and then saw Carlos’ excellent effort deflected wide for another corner with just five minutes scheduled to play. So the match ended all-square after ninety minutes.
Extra Time proved to be a Bridge Too Far for the National League team. Only one side was going to win it at this stage of the contest. With five extra minutes played, Stockton headed a cross from the left wing goalwards and substitute John O’Sullivan looped a perfect header of his own over the stranded Ryan Boot and into the top corner of the net to the goalkeeper’s left. With seventeen minutes on the clock, Hancox tried to clear a cross from a corner kick and unfortunately headed the ball past his own goalkeeper instead. But again, Solihull didn’t lie down and die. Archer shot from the Moors’ right after twelve minutes and only just missed and Mark Halstead did really well to bravely dive at substitute James Ball’s feet and make an excellent save at the beginning of the second extra period. Having said that, Boot also produced an outstanding save with just five minutes left to keep out a tremendous strike from Hendrie and Cole Stockton missed another gem of an opportunity when perfectly set-up again by Carlos right at the death.
So Morecambe progressed to the Third Round for the first time in seventeen years. Shrimps’ fans will be looking for ball number 54 in Monday night’s draw to see who comes out of the bag. As for Solihull, theirs was a really valiant effort today. Given the illness and the lack of preparation alone, I thought they gave a tremendous account of themselves. With a bit of luck – particularly in the first half – they could have won this game. Morecambe just had a bit too much for them in the end. I at least wish them well for the rest of the season. I particularly wish Manager Jimmy Shan well – he looked absolutely terrible to me all the way through the game and I really hope he is ok.
Morecambe: 1 Jake Turner (12 Mark Halstead 45’); 2 Kelvin Mellor; 21 Ryan Cooney; 5 Sam Lavelle (C) (Y); 6 Harry Davis (Y); 11 Carlos Mendes-Gomes (17 A-Jay Leitch-Smith 118’); 7 Jordan Slew (3 Stephen Hendrie 45’); 9 Cole Stockton 10 Aaron Wildig (Y); 20 Adam Phillips (Y) (16 John O’Sullivan 83’); 24 Yann Songo’o (Y).
Subs not used: 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 4 Nathaniel Knight-Percival; 18 Ben Pringle.
Solihull Moors: 1 Ryan Boot; 2 Tyrone Williams (Y); 3 Jordan Cranston; 4 Kyle Storer (C); 7 Joe Sbarra (15 Callum Maycock 30’); 8 Stephen Gleeson (Y) (18 James Ball 102’); 10 Jamey Osborne (11 Jamie Ward (Y) 70’); 12 Cameron Coxe (Y); 24 Mitch Hancox (Y); 27 Kyle Hudlin (25 Cameron Archer 60’); 28 Krystian Pearce.
Subs not used: 13 Niall Clayton; 17 Jordan Piggott; 23 Darren Carter.
Ref: Benjamin Speedie.
