Shrimps Fail at Sheffield Wednesday
(Tremendous cover artwork by Liam Roberts – @LiamOneThree on Twitter.)
Well, what a week for your average Shrimps fan. On Tuesday, it was Derby County; Sheffield Wednesday; Thursday off and then Sheffield Friday again.
Derek Adams’ team made the one hundred plus mile journey into God’s Own Country across the Pennines today to face Wednesday at Hillsborough for the third time this year.
The game should have been played tomorrow but was moved back due to a potential clash between the Blue and Red Sheffield tribes – the Owls and the Blades – as United would be playing in the Championship against Burnley at Bramall Lane in the city at the same time.
There has been much understandable grumbling on Morecambe fans’ websites that work commitments; the weather and the difficulty of getting back home again by public transport from Sheffield late at night all reduced their chances of attending this tie.
Surely Sunday – and at least a possibility of a bumper TV deal for the cash-strapped Shrimps – would have been a better option from our point of view.
But Hey Ho, the FA always knows best, doesn’t it?
In January this year, Stephen Robinson’s ailing side lost 2-0 to Darren Moore’s men as their chances under his leadership of remaining in League One were quickly disappearing. In their only ever previous league encounter, the Owls had lost one-nil at the Maz during August 2021 which marked their first concession of a goal as well as their initial league defeat of last season. The only other times the two clubs had faced each other were most recently when the Yorkshire club clocked-up a routine 3-0 win at the same location in a league game earlier this season. The other – first – time the clubs met was in another FA Cup First Round tie which Wednesday were lucky to win 1-2 in north Lancashire during 2011.
Before the game, Morecambe Manager Derek Adams expressed this view of the tie:
“Sheffield Wednesday are one of the biggest clubs in this division. They shouldn’t really be in this division. We’ve come off some really good performances. We are going to have to do exactly the same against Sheffield Wednesday. We understand the abundance of talent that they have in their squad. But it’s the FA Cup. It is an FA Cup game that everyone’s looking forward to.”
He changed the line-up slightly from Saturday’s draw against Derby County. Having played for Colne in one of the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup this season, Adam Mayor was unable to compete tonight. Strikers Arthur Gnahoua and Dylan Connolly both returned to the first team as Kieran Phillips and Caleb Watts were moved to the bench. Defender Farrend Rawson was also recalled to the starting line-up.
Opposite Number Darren Moore said this prior to the game:
“I love the FA Cup. The furthest I got was the quarter final stage. I love the nostalgia of it. I expect Morecambe to come here and go all out. It’s a cup match and they can play with an element of freedom. We’re looking forward to the game tomorrow night and we have prepared just as we normally do. Morecambe are in our league, they know us, we know them and I’m looking forward to it. For me, it’s about consistency and we have to keep the same mentality in the cup as we do in the league. It’s a break away from the league but we look at it in the same way and keep the same focus.”
The weather had been overcast with rain at times in Sheffield today. Following an impeccably observed Minute’s Silence in anticipation of Remembrance Sunday just over a week hence, the match kicked-off in front of an eerily far less than half-empty stadium.
Morecambe had the first chance of the game within the first two minutes. Liam Shaw – playing against the club he signed for as a Junior – worked the ball down the right flank and played-in Dylan Connolly to take a fairly tame shot at home custodian David Stockdale. Wednesday’s first chance came via Michael Smith, who missed with a free header from Josh Windass’ cross from the Sheffield left after twelve minutes. Windass himself then looped a header over the bar and onto the top of the net about a minute later. Twelve minutes had been played when Connolly played-in Arthur Gnahoua from the right to take a powerful shot at goal which Owls’ custodian Stockdale did well to save. At the other end, Jack Hunt hit a shot which was deflected against Connor Ripley’s post with the away goalkeeper beaten after twenty minutes. Reece James then had a shot well blocked by the visiting defence with 23 minutes on the clock before Smith headed just wide from Tyreeq Bakinson’s cross a minute later. The pressure was increasing and it was no surprise when Windass curled a beautifully-judged shot around Ripley from about twenty yards for the opening goal of the game after almost half an hour.
Virtually straight from the re-start, Stockdale did well to save a thunderbolt from Jensen Weir which was heading towards the top corner of his net. Morecambe’s attempts to drive forward were generally frustrated by poor passing or off-side decisions and Wednesday continued to dominate the play, which was quite scrappy most of the time after the home team had gone ahead. Almost at the end of the first half, Alex Mighten was denied by another confident stop from the visiting goalkeeper as he got down low to save but that was as close as either team came to scoring another goal before the break.
Kieran Phillips was introduced at the expense of Jacob Bedeau as King Derek expressed his intention to take the game to the hosts during the second half. But Wednesday had the first two clear chances after the re-start. Fifty minutes had been played when Mighten waltzed his way through the visiting defence and unleashed a shot which went just wide of the target. A minute later, Windass played in Smith again to force another good save from Ripley in the away goal. Phillips then lobbed the goalkeeper after pandemonium in the home defence after fifty-two minutes. This beat Stockdale – who was out of his ground – but was headed off the line by Dominic Iorfa for a corner. Morecambe then struck on the break after almost an hour and – after some nice interchanges between the Shrimps’ players – Weir took a tremendous shot from the edge of the area which Stockdale did really well to push away for a corner kick as he dived high to his left. Reece James then missed again for Sheffield after Smith had back-heeled the ball to him with exactly an hour played. In the sixty-fifth minute, Mighten only just missed with a close-range effort. But just seconds later, he found the net as Ryan Cooney passed back without looking and the Owls’ forward took full advantage by smashing the ball low past a helpless Ripley to double Wednesday’s advantage. Anthony O’Connor played-in Phillips with a superb pass after 64 minutes but the substitute’s effort on goal was smothered by a Sheffield defender. Weir missed again four minutes later with a shot a long way off target in another rare Shrimps’ foray into opposition territory. Darren Moore – clearly seeing the game already won – took off three of his most effective players with about twenty minutes left.
Derek sent on Caleb Watts to replace Gnahou shortly after this. The change made little difference. Further changes within the last ten minutes also had no effect. Sheffield had the best of what few chances were created after these changes. Ripley did well to keep out an effort from substitute Callum Paterson with about five minutes left. A minute later, Will Vaulks also missed with an effort which went just wide of the target. Right at the death, a Smith strike on Morecambe’s goal was also deflected away from the goal. At the other end, Stockdale had virtually nothing to do.
Disappointingly, the Shrimps went out of the FA Cup with barely a whimper tonight. King Derek told us a few weeks ago that the only way he could expect to receive funds to improve his squad later in the season would be an extended run in this competition.
So let’s hope his team do better at the so-called `Dons’ of Milton Keynes next Tuesday in the League Cup than they did against them in the league earlier this season.
For a very welcome change, BBC Radio Lancashire provided live commentary for this game tonight. Summariser Mark Atkins summed-up what happened thus:
“They started off with a defensive set-up; tried to really just keep Wednesday at bay. It worked for so long- they didn’t have many chances on goal; they were doing well defensively. Second half, they put a centre forward on. They really got into the game; really pushed themselves forward; got a couple of half-chances. But then, the back-pass from Cooney – it was Game Over; there was no coming back from that. (Derek Adams) will be quite pleased with their effort; their determination. They never gave up. Will he go away thinking `we started the game too defensive?’ because second half, they were far better than they were in the first half.”
Sheffield Wednesday: 31 David Stockdale; 4 Will Vaulks; 6 Dominic Iorfa; 7 Mallik Wilks (13 Callum Paterson 80’); 11 Josh Windass (17 Fisayo Dele-Bashiru 70’); 19 Tyreeq Bakinson; 24 Michael Smith; 32 Jack Hunt (20 Michael Ihiekwe 70’); 33 Reece James (18 Marvin Johnson (Y) 70’); 34 Mark McGuinness; 45 Alex Mighten.
Subs not used: 47 Pierce Charles; 3 Jaden Brown; 9 Lee Gregory; 10 Barry Bannan; 14 George Byers.
Morecambe: 1 Connor Ripley (C); 4 Liam Gibson; 5 Farrend Rawson; 6 Ryan Delaney; 11 Dylan Connolly (9 Cole Stockton; 84’) 14 Arthur Gnahoua (17 Caleb Watts 75’); 15 Jensen Weir (Y); 16 Jacob Bedeau; 20 Liam Shaw; 21 Ryan Cooney; 22 Anthony O’Connor (8 Ousmane Fané 84’).
Subs not used: 12 Adam Smith; 23 Kieran Phillips; 19 Jon Obika.
Ref: Sunny Sukhvir Gill.
Att: 8,558 (several hundred stalwarts from Morecambe.)
