Old Ghost returns: Morecambe haunted at Newport County.
Well – we all used to love Newport County, didn’t we? The Exiles played the part usually reserved for Southend when they first returned to the EFL in 2013. We won all of our first five games against them – home and away. But the Amber Army improved against us so much that – prior to the Shrimps’ victory at Wembley – Newport had beaten Morecambe three times in a row. Critically, the Shrimps reversed this trend when Derek Adams’ side beat County in the League Two Play-Off Final at Wembley in May 2021. Overall, Morecambe have beaten the Exiles nine times in the nineteen games they have contested in all competitions so far. The Welsh club have won six but the most recent of these was the reverse fixture last November, when the Phoenix club won 1-2 in Ged Brannan’s first permanent match in charge of the north Lancashire club.
Newport started the game tonight in lucky thirteenth position in League Two, on the back of two wins but four losses in their last six games. Their latest defeat – their second in a row – was last Saturday, when they went behind to the only goal of the game deep into injury time at Stockport.
Just as was the case with Wrexham last week, their fellow countrymen apparently also believe our club is Southend United, given the references to the `Shrimpers’ in Newport’s online preview of the game. Three of their current squad know better. Aaron Wildig will be forever an icon at Morecambe and both current Exiles’ Captain Ryan Delaney and Shane McLoughlin were really good players for us in my humble opinion at least. Both Ryan and Shane were injured tonight and couldn’t play but Aaron was named in the County starting line-up to face his former employers for the first time. Unfortunately.
I’ve been unable to find what County Manager Graham Coughlan thought before tonight’s fixture because – for the second game in a row – I can’t find anything on the club’s website; their `X’ feed or YouTube.
His opposite number, Ged Brannan, made a general assessment of the position he considered the club to be in yesterday. He said:
“I’d say 72 points will get (us) in the play-offs. I’ve had a little chat with all of the lads and said if we win six of our last 10 games, we’ve got a great chance. Everybody is beating each other in this league. It’s like a mini-league for us – if we can finish in the top four of five, we’ll be in the play-offs. We’ve had a great season up to now. They’ve been brilliant since I’ve been in and I’ve been made-up with how everything’s gone. They’ve gone on a great run and shown what a good team they are. If we have the belief we’ve had in the last few weeks, I’m sure we can go on another run. If we finish mid-table, we’ll be disappointed.”
Reflecting on how things have changed since he first took over the reins and lost against tonight’s opponents, Our Ged added about his own club:
“It’s a good place to come and work. Everyone’s happy and behind each other, whether it’s the staff, right through all the players. When you’ve got places where you’re happy to be at, you perform better.”
As far as Newport are specifically concerned, he added:
“They’re a top team. We know it’s going to be a really, really tough game. It’s a long way to go. We will give it our best shot but we know it’s going to be a tough game because they’re a top team.”
Morecambe started the match in tenth place in League Two. They have won two and lost two of their last six league games, including last Saturday. That doesn’t count because they were playing twelve men throughout – the whole of the Wrexham team plus appalling referee Thomas Parsons, who handed the Red Dragons the match on a plate. Tonight, Joel Senior, Farrend Rawson and Jacob Davenport were all missing from the squad altogether. Max Melbourne was suspended after his absurd dismissal by Mr Parsons three days ago.
It had been wet in south Wales for most of the day. Morecambe fans travelling to the game were caught-up in appalling delays near Stafford on the M6 earlier and some of them had to turn back, so late did it become as they were stuck in traffic. There were also serious delays on the roads in and around Newport at tea-time so managing to get to Rodney Parade at all was quite an achievement for all the stalwarts from England who took the trouble to try and get there today.
By the time the game kicked-off, the rain had stopped but there was drizzle in the wind, which gradually got heavier.
Morecambe started brightly and had the first attempt on goal within a minute: David Tutonda’s effort from distance only just cleared the home crossbar. The men in the red strip continued to press and the game was played almost exclusively in the opposition half for the first ten minutes. For the hosts, that man Aaron Wildig bucked this trend after some nice linking play by the hosts by trying to find Luke Jephcott with a forward pass after six minutes but he just over-hit it. He got it absolutely right, however, with Newport’s first attempt on goal with eleven minutes played. County were passing the ball well and moving the away rearguard about before Lewis Payne received it on the Newport right and put in a low cross which Aaron swept past Archie Mair as the away defence was static and he connected instantly. Commendably, he did not celebrate his goal. Six minutes later, though, Adam Lewis did. County worked the ball down their right flank again and exchanged a couple of passes before Bryn Morris lofted it into the danger area. It landed perfectly for Lewis and his instant volley as he found himself unmarked in the away penalty area gave Archie virtually no chance as he made at least an attempt to keep it out. So with less than twenty minutes on the clock, Morecambe had been undone simply by failing to keep things tight in defence. Going forward, though, the visitors always looked a threat. In the twenty-sixth minute, Gwion Edwards came as close as it is possible to get to open his account for his new club. He was making progress just to the right of centre from his point of view, dummied to pass the ball and then surged forward to unleash a powerful shot which beat County custodian Nick Townsend but crashed back into play from the underside of his bar. Gwion wasn’t going to be denied much longer. With half an hour played, he received a perfect pass from Jordan Slew as the Shrimps started a counter-attack. He ran at pace to virtually the same place he had been in four minutes earlier but this time, he gave to goalkeeper the eyes and hit the ball to his left as Townsend dived to his right. It was a tremendous strike.
The Exiles fashioned the next chance, though. Wildig set-up Harry Charsley for a shot almost in the middle of the pitch just on the edge of the penalty area and Mair did really well to push the ball over the bar for a corner. Will Evans then headed wide for the home team just before the break.
So Morecambe went back to the Changing Rooms in a familiar position: losing away from home. Could they turn things round in the second half?
It didn’t look as if it was going to happen when former Shrimps’ star Wildig scored again for the hosts in the fifty-third minute- another instant shot from the left of centre after Lewis found him from the Exiles’ left flank. Once again, he didn’t celebrate. Three-one down with 37 minutes to play. Surely, Morecambe couldn’t pull things round again. Could they?
They could. I thought Newport were looking comfortable when Morecambe won a corner in the sixty-eighth minute. Edwards took it; County conceded another and Gwion played it in again. Townsend seemed to me to wipe-out Ged Garner before the ball fell loose; the men in yellow couldn’t clear it and Chris Stokes hit it through a crowd of players against the goalkeeper’s left post – and in. Morecambe took control of the match at this point. Just three minutes after their second goal, they were level. Joe Adams did well in the centre of the park and picked-out substitute Jordy Hiwula on the left. He raced into the penalty area, beat Townsend at his near post; the ball bounced into the air across the goal mouth and Gwion had the easiest of tasks to head it home for his second goal of the night. Morecambe continued to press and I thought that the key moment of the entire game arrived in the seventy-seventh minute. Edwards did brilliantly to win the ball in the centre of the pitch; fed Hiwula on the right this time and the home stopper did brilliantly to block Jordy’s shot. The ball ran loose to Gwion, who had continued his run from midfield but – from point-blank range – the Welshman contrived to miss the target altogether from the rebound. It was a miss the men in red shirts would soon come to regret. Almost immediately, Newport substitute Seb Palmer-Houlden was galloping up their right flank and swinging the ball over to fellow-sub Offrande Zanzala who played a simple pass from well within the away penalty area to Harry Charsley, who swerved the ball past Archie from very close in. Our Ged sent on two more forwards as Morecambe threw everything at another equaliser. But they were undone again when – with Mair and his defence caught out of position following a free-kick taken by Yann Songo’o – Palmer-Houlden ran powerfully down the centre of the pitch and scored a fifth and decisive goal for the Exiles.
So a really exciting game finally ended in defeat despite a valiant effort from the Shrimps to turn an away game around yet again. The match was played in an excellent spirit by both sides with no diving, time-wasting or feigning injury by any of the players on show. It also made a real contrast to Saturday’s stitch-up at the Maz to see a Referee – Scott Simpson – who let the game flow and was as clearly impartial as his colleague had been the opposite at the weekend. In official Man of the Match Aaron Wildig, we had the difference between the two sides. I still believe that Morecambe would have stayed in League One last season if he had not decided to leave. We really saw what we are missing tonight…
Despite their second loss in a row, Morecambe slipped only one place to eleventh in the League Two table tonight. They are just three points behind AFC Wimbledon, who are in the lowest of the Play-Off positions but have played one game more. The win pushes County right onto the Shrimps’ coat-tails: twelfth but still two points worse off with the same number of matches played. Tonight’s win was a double for the Exiles over the Shrimps. The Welsh Connection has not been a happy one for Morecambe this season: we have lost all four of our matches against Newport and Wrexham combined.
This is how Our Ged felt after the game:
“Devastated to be honest with you.. I thought at times we were breathtaking going forward today: missed a lot of chances. But we can’t defend crosses like that – we just can’t. I’m not blaming anyone individually. As a team, we can’t leave men free in the box: it kills us. We can’t come away from home and create eight or nine chances and get beat like that. We just can’t. Disappointing. We have to shore-up at the back. We had the better chances – we really did – but you can’t concede goals like that. You can’t score three goals away from home and get beat five-three. It just can’t happen.”
Newport County: 1 Nick Townsend; 2 Lewis Payne; 3 Adam Lewis; 7 Will Evans (Y) (30 Seb Palmer-Houlden 65’); 8 Bryn Morris; 17 Scot Bennett (C); 20 Harry Charsley (6 Declan Drysdale 81’); 23 Kyle Jameson (Y); 24 Aaron Wildig (Y) (11 James Waite 88’); 28 Matthew Baker (Y); 31 Luke Jephcott (10 Offrande Zanzala 65’).
Substitutes not used: 26 Jon Maxted; Bright; 18 Kiban Rai; 33 Matthew Bondswell.
Morecambe: 30 Archie Mair; 3 David Tutonda (Y); 4 Jacob Bedeau (C); 6 Yann Songo’o; 8 Joe Adams; 9 Ged Garner; 14 Jordan Slew (39 Jordy Hiwula 60’); 15 Chris Stokes; 19 Gwion Edwards (17 Cammy Smith 93’); 22 Kayden Harrack (11 Julian Larsson 84’); 38 Nelson Khumbeni (20 Charlie Brown 84’).
Substitutes not used: 21 Adam Smith; 18 Jake Taylor; 40 Adam Fairclough.
Ref: Scott Simpson.
Att: 3,508 (67 from Morecambe.)
