No Progress Against the Pilgrims for Morecambe.
Morecambe made the long trip to Devon today to face their Manager’s former employers for only the second away game in which he has been in charge. Derek Adams was sacked by the Pilgrims just over six months ago and said – prior to today’s Home Park match:
“We’re coming off the back of a very good performance against Carlisle United, where we created a number of good goal-scoring opportunities. We’ve had a flu bug that’s gone through the first team squad, which gives an opportunity to some of the players that have been on the subs’ bench or just outside the matchday squad. I’m delighted to have (goalkeeper) Andre De Silva Mendes training with the first team and also seeing the good progress of Carlos Mendes Gomes in first team training and reserve matches, which bodes well for the youngsters in our youth system.”
As far as his old club was concerned, he said:
“I’m looking forward to this weekend. We [Argyle] obviously did exceptionally well; when we got promoted out of League Two, we had a mid-table budget. In a very competitive league, to get out of the league in the way we did and the football we played was very exciting. I don’t have anything to prove to anyone; history is history and you can’t change that.”
The team he left behind – now under the guidance of ex-Bury Manager Ryan Lowe – was ninth in League Two before kick-off and on a run of three wins and two losses in their last five games. Both the Manager and midfielder Antoni Sarcevic have been nominated for EFL November awards as a result of their efforts for the team in recent times. In contrast, bottom of the EFL Morecambe had won only one of their last five games and lost two. Nobody from the Shrimps has been nominated for any EFL awards for last month either. In previous meetings, Plymouth had won six out of twelve and lost just three. Before the game, though, the new Manager had said the following about some of the men who will have been involved in this history in recent times:
“We’ve got options in January. The board will back me for what I need. We have a few players who need to move on. I don’t want to force anyone out, but we’ll see what happens.”
He won’t be the only one to be interested to see what happens. I’ve no doubt that Derek Adams will be just as interested in the future of players who would have played for him in the past. If finances allow, it would not be inconceivable to imagine that one or two of these individuals might be moving north to Lancashire in the New Year…
Aaron Wildig was one of the players missing for Morecambe because of illness and Andre Filipe Da Silva Mendes sat on the bench as the reserve goalkeeper for the first time. Barry Roche’s duties at the club have thus been restricted to those of goalkeeping coach only: he will be missed on the pitch after an outstanding career as a player for the Shrimps. Derek Adams wasn’t the only person from Lancashire returning to his former stomping ground: leading scorer Lewis Allesandra also faced a club for which he scored 25 goals in one hundred appearances. Both men received a warm welcome from their former supporters, which is a tribute to all concerned.
It was grey but dry as the match kicked-off in front of Argyle’s brand new Mayflower Grandstand – which will be officially opened next month. The hosts went straight onto the front foot and – with Niall Canavan catching the eyes for the Pilgrims with his control in midfield – won a number of corners in the opening few minutes. Mark Halstead in the visitors’ goal was tested after seven minutes when he was equal to Antoni Sarcevic’s shot from a Joel Grant pass. Gary Sawyer missed with a header a minute later following another corner to the home team. After 15 minutes, Tafari Moore’s cross into the Morecambe area was hooked away only as far as Danny Mayor on the penalty spot and his half-volley bounced off the woodwork but harmlessly away for a goal kick.
The visitors were on the back foot but looking quite well organised whilst offering little going forward until half an hour had been played. Then, a short back-pass by Sarcevic forced Alex Palmer in the Argyle goal into rapid action to prevent a half-chance to the visitors. Shortly afterwards, Alex Kenyon played a clever pass to set-up A-Jay Leitch-Smith for a clear run on goal but the Shrimps’ forward took a wild swipe at the ball and missed it entirely. A key moment in the game arrived with just three minutes scheduled to play until half time. Dominic Telford got beyond the Morecambe defence in pursuit of a long ball and Ritchie Sutton pulled him back in a goal-scoring position just outside the penalty area. Referee Brett Huxtable had no option other than to brandish the red card and the Shrimps found themselves down to ten men for the second away game in a row. It got worse as George Cooper stepped-up to steer the resultant free-kick out of reach of Halstead into the top corner of the net to open his account for the Pilgrims. Worse still was to come. Before the break, Captain Kenyon brought-down Joel Grant to concede a penalty during injury time which Sarcevic converted to put the hosts into a more or less unassailable position at the break.
So it proved. The visitors defended manfully against constant pressure throughout the second half. The defensive wall deflected a Cooper free-kick narrowly wide after fifty minutes. Halstead made a good save from Josh Grant with 73 minutes played and namesake Conor headed the ball onto the top of the net when well placed shortly afterwards after coming on as a substitute. Following a corner, Steven Old deflected an effort from another substitute, Zak Rudden, against the post with seventy-seven minutes played. Conor Grant forced another save from Halstead after eighty minutes but could not be denied in injury time right at the end of the contest. Cooper marauded down the wing and slung over a cross which the third Grant in Plymouth’s team today fired home at the far post.
At the other end, John O’Sullivan played-in Lewis Allesandra after 68 minutes but Palmer came off his line quickly to narrow the angle and made a good save. Other than that, the visitors offered very little threat.
So that was it: three goals conceded; none scored; a further three points lost and another red card into the bargain. Could it get any worse? Yes, it could. In South Wales, nearest rivals Stevenage pulled-off a surprise draw at Newport after leading for most of the match to put themselves a point ahead of Derek Adams’ men with a game in hand. Morecambe are now five points adrift of Oldham Athletic in twenty-second position but the Latics also have a game in hand. Being bottom of any table at Christmas is never a good place to be in but the Shrimps are just one game away from being in that unenviable position. The game isn’t up yet but Mr Adams will have his work cut out – to put it mildly – to reverse this situation by the end of the season. Today’s regulation win moved the Pilgrims one place up the League Two table into eighth position.
Plymouth Argyle: 24 Alex Palmer; 5 Scott Wootton; 6 Niall Canavan; 3 Gary Sawyer (C); 32 George Cooper; 25 Josh Grant; 17 Tafari Moore; 7 Antoni Sarcevic (15 Conor Grant 71’); 10 Danny Mayor; 11 Dom Telford (18 Billy Clarke 82’); 16 Joel Grant (39 Zak Rudden 67’).
Subs not used: 1 Michael Cooper; 2 Joe Riley; 9 Ryan Taylor; 20 Adam Randell.
Morecambe: 21 Mark Halstead; 12 Ritchie Sutton (R); 27 George Tanner; 3 Luke Conlan; 5 Steven Old; 4 Alex Kenyon (C); 7 John O’Sullivan; 14 Tom Brewitt (Y); 19 Carlos Mendes-Gomes (11 Kevin Ellison 86’); 10 A-Jay Leitch-Smith (9 Cole Stockton 82’); 8 Lewis Alessandra (33 Jordan Cranston 78’).
Subs not used: 28 Andre Filipe Da Silva Mendes; 2 Adam Buxton; 24 Shaun Miller.
Ref: Brett Huxtable.
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