Salford City 2:1 Morecambe

Deep Sigh: What Could Have Been at Salford City…

The Ammies – a.k.a. Salford City – went into tonight’s League Two game against Morecambe on the back of a three-nil home win against Bradford last Saturday. In their previous five league games, though, they had lost two and only won one more contest. They were eighth in League Two before the game, two places above their visitors, who were on a run of three draws and a win out of their last five league fixtures. Historically, this was only the third meeting between the clubs. They drew last year in Lancashire but the Shrimps lost pretty tamely in the fairly meaningless FAT earlier this year at Moss Lane. How things have changed for the super-star sponsored club since then: previous Manager Graham Alexander has been shown the door and former Swindon Town boss Richie Wellens is now at the reins.

It was dry but increasingly slippery underfoot as the game kicked-off in the eerily empty stadium. The visitors – in their distinctive all-blue/black strip – started on the front foot. For the first half-hour, they played all the football. The pattern was set early on as Alex Denny was given a yellow card for a really bad foul after only four minutes. By the end of the half, three more of his team-mates had also been cautioned by Referee Neil Hair as a testament to City’s very physical approach. Six minutes had been played when Jordan Slew won the ball and fed Cole Stockton, who was just off-side in the centre of the home penalty area. Adam Phillips did well to anticipate and intercept a pass to Martin Smith with nine minutes played and was stopped by another crude challenge by the Salford player. A corner was then volleyed goalwards only to be blocked by Salford Skipper Ashley Eastham on the line and for Sam Lavelle’s instant volley from the rebound to go wide of the target. Just after ten minutes, Slew’s deflected shot off Tom Clarke was then easily fielded by home custodian Václav Hladky. At the other end, Ash Hunter made Salford’s first attempt on goal of the night with a shot which went well wide of the target into the empty seats. With twenty minutes played, Carlos Mendes-Gomes played a one-two with Phillips on the right and received the ball in the City penalty area. His control let him down, though, and the chance disappeared. With twenty-five minutes played and the visitors still asking all the questions, Phillips tried his luck with a lob from a long way out – it was an easy save for Hladky. At the other end, Hunter then actually forced an equally routine save for Jake Turner with the Ammies’ first attempt on target. Twenty minutes had been played when Kelvin Mellor attacked up the Morecambe left and found Phillips with a low cross. Adam showed some fine ball control before unleashing a shot from close range which was also blocked only for the ball to find its way back to Mellor, whose fierce volley was brilliantly saved. Five minutes later, Aaron Wildig was found at the far post from the Shrimps’ right and his shot was again cleared off the line by Eastham. Following a free-kick to the visitors, the man Václav produced a fine stop at the cost of a corner with almost half an hour on the clock. But possibly the oldest cliché in football is that when you are on top, you must score. Morecambe didn’t and started to lose momentum after about half an hour. With forty minutes played, they conceded a free kick on the edge of their penalty area which Ash Hunter brilliantly placed out of Turner’s reach high to his left. Sucker punch. It soon got worse: the same player was allowed a free run on goal by an absent defence just three minutes later and chose his spot to Turner’s right this time with another assured strike.

And that was it at half time. The match Morecambe played last Saturday at Scunthorpe was a shocker: two poor sides playing abysmal football. Tonight, though, this was a cracker. Morecambe pressed and Salford used every trick in the book to weather the storm and strike back once that storm had run out of puff.

It’s another well-worn cliché to suggest that the next goal would be the key one. If the home team scored it; that would probably be that. But if the visitors got it, it was Match On once more. And Morecambe duly did score it. After 53 minutes, Phillips cleverly caught Denny in possession and laid the ball off to Ryan Cooney who shifted it to Cole Stockton on the Shrimps’ left flank. Cole carried the ball into the penalty area and reduced the arrears with a fine shot which beat Hladky all ends up on its way into the net. Two minutes later, the hosts’ goalkeeper had an easier task as he saved a weak shot from Carlos. At this point, the visitors were again in the ascendency, with crafty fouls and shameless time-wasting the order of the day from the hosts to see out the match. It wasn’t nice to watch; it’s cynical and negative – but it worked. The nearest the Shrimps came to pulling the game back was when Carlos Mendes-Gomes put the ball over the bar when right in the centre of the goal after 64 minutes. Carlos – who is only a little fellah – complained that huge central defender Di’Shon Bernard had pushed him as he shot. He probably had but Carlos should have buried the chance when the ball fell to him. Tonight, Morecambe’s Number Eleven was off the pace and played poorly. Personally, I would have also taken Jordan Slew off and freshened things up. But Derek Adams didn’t make any changes at all. This surprised me – but I’m not Morecambe’s Manager and he has probably forgotten more about football than I’ve ever known.

The disappointing result meant that the Shrimps fell to fourteenth in the table. Their far more affluent opponents found themselves in the Play-Off positions in seventh. If they always play like they did tonight, I for one, hope that this is as good as it gets for them. One thing Salford City do not play is the Beautiful Game – and with resources like theirs, there is no excuse for this.

Salford City: 1 Václav Hladky; 3 Ibou Touray; 5 Ashley Eastham (C); 6 Tom Clarke; 10 Ashley Hunter; 11 Bruno Andrade (16 Jordan Turnbull 74’); 12 Di’Shon Bernard; 15 Luke Burgess (9 Tom Elliott 64’); 24 Martin Smith (Y) (18 Oscar Threlkeld 54’); 28 Alex Denny (Y) (37 Brandon Thomas-Asante 74’); 40 Ian Henderson (Y).

Subs not used: 31 William Evans; 14 George Boyd; 20 Mani Dieseruvwe.

Morecambe: 1 Jake Turner; 2 Kelvin Mellor; 21 Ryan Cooney (Y); 5 Sam Lavelle (C)(Y); 6 Harry Davis; 11 Carlos Mendes-Gomes; 7 Jordan Slew; 9 Cole Stockton 10 Aaron Wildig; 20 Adam Phillips; 24 Yann Songo’o (Y).

Subs not used: 12 Mark Halstead; 3 Stephen Hendrie; 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 4 Nathaniel Knight-Percival; 18 Ben Pringle; 16 John O’Sullivan; 23 Freddie Price.

Ref: Neil Hair.