Morecambe Amateurs.
As news was announced that Ryan Giggs has been appointed their new Director of Football, Morecambe visited Salford City this afternoon for only the third time ever. Giggs is most famous in recent times for his appearances in court accused of misogynistic charges which he has been cleared of. But he and his so-called `Class of 92’ team-mates from another club which plays in red have put City on the map in the ten years since they collectively took control of it. In doing so, they have turned a media spotlight on the `Ammies’ (Salford Amateurs- as the club was once known) and given it the sort of high-profile platform – plus loads of inward investment – that other teams struggling at non-league level but without faded superstar sponsors can only marvel at.
This match was originally scheduled for yesterday, when train services from north Lancashire and bus services in Greater Manchester were plentiful and travel to the Peninsular Stadium would be relatively easy for away fans. But the same television companies who have smiled so benignly on Salford in recent times have made attending the game – with a Sunday Service on what is actually St Patrick’s Day – more problematic than it would have been twenty-four hours earlier. They also moved the kick-off to an earlier slot so it did not conflict with what these financial backers of the Beautiful Game in this country considered to be a far more significant match being played not too far away on the other side of the River Irwell.
So who are more important? – grass root supporters or the interests of pay-to-view TV companies? Yes folks: in case there’s ever been any doubt, it’s another example of Mind Over Matter: the Sky and their like couldn’t mind less (as they say in Scotland) – and we don’t matter at all…
To be fair, though, the men who have taken over at Salford have done at least one very positive thing as far as their supporters are concerned. They provide the cheapest EFL football in the land. I was amazed to see that my Old Fogie ticket only cost a tenner. Other prices are similarly cheap – about half what we pay at Morecambe. Wow…
Anyway, City started this afternoon’s game in twentieth position in League Two. They drew 2-2 in Thursday night’s televised local derby against Stockport County having been two-nil up at half time. They have lost three of their previous five league games before this, winning only one. Salford have played Morecambe five time in all previously but have only beaten the Shrimps once in the EFL, losing two of the other three games. The most recent defeat came at the Maz last September, when Derek Adams’ men beat what was then a team managed by Neil Wood by the only goal of the game and Matthew Lund was sent-off into the bargain. There have been lots of changes since then – both King Derek and Woody have departed and the Salford Hot Seat is now occupied by ex-Oxford Manager Karl Robinson. As their recent form shows, he’s hardly set the world on fire since he took over the reins at the Peninsular in January. He was sent-off only fourteen minutes into his debut game for interfering with a throw-in, setting a downbeat trend which he has followed quite faithfully as the club has slipped ever further away from the summit of the table. His position at the club hardly looks more secure as the Board (Chairman: Mr Gary Alexander Neville; Directors: Mr David Robert Joseph Beckham; Mr Paul Scholes; Mr Philip John Neville and Mr Nicholas Butt) have this week secured the services of Alex Bruce (son of the Board’s former team-mate Steve) as a Coach from Macclesfield. (Oh – and which part of the cosy member of the Manchester United clique are they directed by? Yes, it’s the one and only Mr Robbie Savage.) Is this nepotism? No, I am told: not really. A coterie? Probably. A Brotherhood? Definitely. Karl Robinson isn’t part of this cosy club. As far as I can see, his nearest association with The Red Devil clique was probably when he was a player at Warrington, just fifteen miles away.
It used to be easy to find out what opposition Managers thought prior to playing Morecambe but – for the third fixture in a row – I can find no reference anywhere to what Mr Robinson thought about today’s game.
Morecambe arrived in Salford (it’s Prestwich isn’t it really?) in twelfth position in League Two and on the back of two straight defeats by opponents from West of the Border. Despite bravely battling back from 3-1 down to equalise against Newport County last Tuesday, they finally lost to a team where former Shrimps icon Aaron Wildig deservedly won Man of the Match and scored two goals for the Welsh club. On the night, they were beaten fair and square. That cannot be said of their previous defeat, where an extraordinarily biased little man in the middle gave Wrexham all the help they needed to unfairly win the game by three goals to one against ten men. What a farce…
Shrimps’ Manager Ged Brannan had the following to say last Friday about the task facing his men this afternoon:
“We watched Salford last night to see what we are up against. The pitch is not the best and they’re very direct so we’ve got to go there with our sleeves rolled up and put a performance in. It will be like when we played Sutton early on in the season. It was very direct but we dealt with it (then) really well. Hopefully we can do the same against them.”
It was sunny and actually quite hot at times during the game after a wet day in Manchester in the morning. The seats in the surprisingly small Peninsular Stadium were sparsely inhabited and the away fans made most of the noise throughout the match.
Morecambe started poorly on a badly- worn pitch which reminded us all of the beach at home in places because there was so much sand on it. The thirteenth minute proved to be a lucky one for the hosts. Connor McLennan received the ball on the Ammies’ right, went past Joel Senior as if he wasn’t there and then worked his way across the edge of the Morecambe penalty area. As nobody closed him down or made any attempt to challenge him, he was clearly looking for the most favourable angle for a shot; took it – and scored at the near post to Archie Mair’s right. Simple as that. Schoolboy defending by our lot – this was McLennan’s first goal for the club and he will never score an easier one.
“Never mind!” I thought. “Ged always has a Game Plan. Usually, it is to let the opposition score at least one goal – and then beat them!”
But thirteen minutes later, Salford almost doubled their lead. There was a melee in the Morecambe box; a couple of good blocks were made by the beleaguered away defence; Archie’s tremendous reflexes prevented another goal and then Callum Morton took a shot which was deflected wide of the target.
In the thirty-ninth minute, City came even closer. This time, they attacked down the left again; a cross into the centre was blasted against the crossbar by Dan Chesters with Mair beaten and the rebound was walloped high and wide by Morton.
At the other end, there was a bit of panic stations in the home defence at one point. But Alex Cairns in the home goal didn’t have a save to make.
Ged Brannan took the utterly ineffectual Jordy Hiwula off at half time. But he could have taken any of the forwards off today. Gwion Edwards was poor all game and kept giving the ball away. Ged Garner didn’t seriously test the home defence either. Shall we go on? No – at the time, we just hoped for a better display in the second half.
The Shrimps looked a little more lively this time from the re-start. But it didn’t last long. After just five minutes, they fell even further behind. Mair hoofed the ball down the field; it was booted back towards where it had come by a red-clad defender and fell towards centre forward Callum Hendry. He again got the better of Senior – this time in an aerial challenge – and as the ball dropped towards the ground, fairly put his laces through it on the edge of the away penalty area and saw it loop up and out of reach of Archie to the goalkeeper’s right into the bottom corner of the net. It was a great strike but the lead-up to it was agricultural at best by both teams.
“Fear not! Ged always has a Game Plan” I reminded myself. Today, we’re going to let the opposition score two goals – and then beat them; just as we did at Tranmere and Crewe!”
The visitors duly did pull one back in the sixty-second minute. Edwards took a corner on the Morecambe right; the low ball eluded the Ammies’ defence and reached substitute Jordan Slew, who bundled it home at the far post. (Or was it an own-goal by Theo Vassell?) Whatever, it was Game On – now we’re going to take control and win!
Except that we didn’t do either of these things. Substitute Julian Larsson drew a decent save from Cairns with a while still to play but that was basically that. Morecambe continued to play haphazard football; were second to the ball more often than not; were constantly guilty of surrendering cheap possession and couldn’t string three consecutive passes together. This was true of the entire game. For the record, Salford scored a third with just over ten minutes left when Curtis Tilt headed home far too easily from a corner taken by substitute Luke Garbutt. City also saw their under-pressure Manager booked for a totally unnecessary display of petulance or stupidity from the touch-line. Why? – the match was already clearly won…
This was a hopeless display from the Shrimps today. Salford may have the nickname `Ammies’ but Morecambe looked like the amateurs all the way through the game against a side obviously lacking in confidence who should have been there for the taking. Instead, the men in the white shirts threw their big chance of being in the Play-Offs tonight away and ended-up thirteenth in League Two this evening. Salford put daylight between themselves and the Legion of the Doomed at the bottom of the table by going eleven points ahead of Colchester, Forest Green and Sutton.
Our Ged made what I think is a basic mistake by setting a target for his men two games ago: six wins out of the remaining ten games to get a place booked in the end of season show-down. In my view, you should never publicly state targets because your critics will use them as a stick to beat you with if they aren’t achieved. Now there’s only eight matches left and the Shrimps still have to win six, having lost all three of their last League Two games in a row.
If any of the clique who own the Salford club were actually there today, they would probably be surprised by how easily their men won the game. But their thoughts had probably already turned towards their old stomping ground. At Old Trafford, they would be hoping for a similar result as their former club took on Liverpool in the FA Cup. Sadly for Jurgen Klopp , that’s exactly what they got. I’ve no idea how the German tried to justify Liverpool’s loss after the game but I must be honest when I say that I genuinely had no idea how on earth how Our Ged was going to find a silver lining in the utter dross his players had served up earlier. The answer is that he didn’t. As always, he was brutally honest about his men’s performance this afternoon. Here is what the Morecambe Manager said after the game:
“That’s the worst I’ve felt since I took over the job – even as bad as Wrexham to be honest. I just thought we showed nothing today. I felt really sorry for the fans – they turned up in their numbers; they were very good – they were still singing even when we were getting beat. It’s unacceptable – we can’t play like that. We can’t be putting up with stuff like that. We can’t have seven – even eight – players on the pitch not having a good day. We just can’t. It’s an unacceptable performance and we have to work a lot harder. We had a really bad day at the office today.”
Salford City: 1 Alex Cairns; 5 Adrian Mariappa; 6 Elliot Watt(C); 7 Ryan Watson; 8 Matthew Lund (18 Conor McAleny 72’); 9 Callum Hendry (54 Junior Luamba 76’); 11 Connor McLennan (Y) (19 Jezreel Davies 93’); 16 Curtis Tilt; 20 Dan Chesters (29 Luke Garbutt 73’); 39 Callum Morton (17 Matt Smith 76’); 42 Theo Vassell.
Substitutes not used: 31 Joel Torrance; 2 Ethan Ingram.
Morecambe: 30 Archie Mair; 4 Jacob Bedeau (C); 6 Yann Songo’o; 8 Joe Adams; 9 Ged Garner (Y) (11 Julian Larsson 70’); 12 Joel Senior; 15 Chris Stokes; 19 Gwion Edwards (20 Charlie Brown 70’); 23 Max Melbourne (3 David Tutonda 64’); 38 Nelson Khumbeni; 39 Jordy Hiwula (14 Jordan Slew 45’).
Substitutes not used: 21 Adam Smith; 17 Cammy Smith 18 Jake Taylor.
Ref: Sam Purkiss.
Att: Unknown (Several hundred from Morecambe.)
