MORECAMBE DROWN IN MONTGOMERY WATERS
Morecambe should have played Shrewsbury Town on Saturday, February 19th last but couldn’t because The Montgomery Waters New Meadow was waterlogged. Many fans who had travelled visited Chester City instead – a gesture which was greatly appreciated by the Cheshire club. This is the preamble I wrote for the game at the time – and it’s extraordinary to see how much things can change in just a very few weeks:
“Morecambe travelled to Shrewsbury today for a potentially crucial League One fixture which could drastically affect both clubs’ fortunes in the Division. The Shrews started the game in eighteenth position in the league, on the same number of games played as their opponents this afternoon but with four more points in the bag. They haven’t won even one of their last five games and lost at Plymouth last Saturday after drawing their previous four matches. The Shrimps’ recent form is even worse: three fixtures drawn and two lost out of their last five league games. Previously, Morecambe have played Town fifteen times in all competitions. They have lost seven of these but won five; most recently when they defeated the Shropshire club 2-0 at the Maz last August. Another win tonight would totally transform their prospects near the bottom of League One. A draw wouldn’t really help things a lot – and a loss really wouldn’t bear thinking about. So there was a lot of pressure on a team which constantly blows hot and cold to play on the front foot and go for a victory.
Manager Stephen Robinson said this prior to the game:
“Shrewsbury is an opportunity for us. We have beaten them at home: they are a big, strong, physical side who put a lot of balls into the area. I worked with Ryan Bowman at Motherwell and sold him, so we know their threats. It is a big, big game for us. If we could get a point there it would be good. Three points bring Shrewsbury right into the mix with us and it is another body fighting for survival.”
He was able to include the winner of January’s EFL Goal of the Month for the tremendous winning volley which turned-round a 0-3 deficit to a 4-3 win for the Shrimps at the Maz. `Toums’ commented on the award:
“After a long career, that’s one thing I’ve never won, and never thought I would.”
Robbo’s Opposite Number – Steve Cotterill – had this to say about today’s clash:
“Obviously having the clear run up to Morecambe helps the players to rest and recuperate and to not be doing a lot of travelling is good too. I think we’ve had six of the last eight games away from home which has been difficult, but if you look at the form table in the last six games, we’re ninth at home and we’re tenth in the form table away.”
One of his own players – Club Captain Ethan Ebanks-Landell – added:
“It’s a big game, some would say a six-pointer and I’d probably agree. We’ve had a good week of preparation after a long week last week so hopefully, we can go out and get the job done in front of our home fans. It’s always good to be at home and get your home comforts. Obviously, away is a bit different and there are a lot of variables – but you can’t control those. Gaffer’s had a full week to get his game plan in place and hopefully, we can execute it on Saturday.””
Tonight, though, the situation outlined above has changed markedly. Shrewsbury remain eighteenth in League One, having won only one of their last five games and lost two. But Morecambe are now four places lower and seven – not just four – points adrift of them. Since the return of the Messiah – Derek Adams – the Shrimps have managed only two draws in four games and lost the other two, most recently at home against Cheltenham last Saturday where they went down by three goals to one. With just nine games left of the League One campaign, this is even more a `six-pointer’ than it was when Ethan Ebanks-Landell made his assessment of things last month.
King Derek’s assessment of the opposition tonight was as follows:
“They’ve changed their shape on Saturday, they started in a 3-4-3 formation and then they changed to a 3-5-2. They’ve played the majority of their time that way this season. They’ve been able to pull away from the bottom four and it looks like they’re nearly safe now. It’s a tough encounter, they’ve got a number of really good players. We need wins. The three points are massive at this stage in the season – that can pull you a good bit ahead.”
Seve Cotterill said about the recent change in Management at Morecambe that there
“Won’t be too much difference because Derek hasn’t been back there long. I think, even if they do change in styles or whatever; I’m sure the Morecambe lads can drop back into it. So I’m sure it’s a pretty seamless swap, really. He ended up leaving for another job, and that happens. But now he’s back and it was a good fit in the first place so I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be a good fit for them going forward.”
He named the same starting eleven which lost at home 1-2 to Oxford last Saturday. Adam Phillips was missing from the Morecambe squad altogether tonight due to a severely bruised foot but Aaron Wildig made a welcome return to the starting eleven after injury against his former club.
It was dry with barely a breath of wind as the match kicked-off. The home team started with a wild shot by Daniel Udoh which went high and wide of Trevor Carson’s goal after just two minutes. Then Dylan Connolly did really well to win a header against much bigger Shrews’ defenders a minute later; ran after the ball at lightning-quick speed but then spoiled all his hard work with a weak cross from the Morecambe right. George Nurse then tried an instant volley as the ball looped in from the Town right from the left side of the penalty box from his point of view only to see his shot blocked. This was in the eighth minute which ended with Cole The Goal Stockton spinning and shooting all in one movement in trademark style. He put the ball high and wide too.
A couple of minutes later, he did the same thing on the right flank this time but his attempted shot went tamely away towards the left hand side of the pitch. The hosts had enjoyed a fair bit of possession with quarter of an hour on the clock but the Shrimps’ shape bore all the hallmarks of a Derek Adams team from last season. Aaron Wildig and Alfie McCalmont pressed high up as their team-mates compressed the space behind them. The result was that Shrewsbury were reduced to passing the ball between their back four and often simply lumping it forwards to very little effect.
However, they broke the press after 22 minutes when Liam Gibson slipped on the Shrimps’ left and allowed Josh Vela to get past him and find Ryan Bowman in the centre. He should have buried the ball but he blazed it over the bar instead. There was a concerted period of home pressure for a period after this miss but no further alarms at the back for the visitors. Well – before almost the whole of the half had passed at least.
In the meantime, Wildig was presented with a golden opportunity to score after 31 minutes when Stockton did brilliantly to get past several Shrews’ defenders on the Shrimps’ right and found him unmarked on the far side of the penalty area. But Aaron – who had a poor and unusually tetchy game tonight – totally fluffed his lines and put the ball way over the bar. Greg Leigh then did well to set-up Connolly with a killer pass into No Man’s Land for a clear run on goal. But big Marko Marosi – in his fluorescent orange strip – rushed from his area and seemingly intimidated Dylan, who appeared to stop in mid-stride instead of playing the ball round him and chasing after it. So the braver player – the goalkeeper – cleared it.
The game seemed to be meandering to a goal-less draw: just as the match against Cheltenham seemed to be doing last Saturday. But out of nothing, the hosts found themselves ahead with just two minutes left to play. Nurse was allowed to make progress down the Morecambe right, look up and send over a peach of a cross which a totally unmarked Udoh buried easily past a helpless Carson.
The sequence of events seen at the Maz last Saturday seemed to be repeating themselves even earlier than had been the case then when Morecambe fell further behind within a minute of the restart. It seemed to me that Jacob Bedeau controlled a shot from a long way out by Tyrese Fornah perfectly with the upper part of his chest on the right-hand side. But Referee Darren Drysdale – and his is the opinion which actually matters, after all – saw things differently. He awarded a penalty for hand-ball which Luke Leahy converted with an unstoppable strike.
I thought it was very harsh and hoped it would galvanise the visitors in the way that Derek Adams teams have traditionally always responded to adversity in the past. But we must remember – this is not Derek’s team; it is one he has inherited.
This one fell apart. They lay down and died without a whimper. Their heads went down – and their discipline went with them. The Red Mist descended on Wildig at least in the forty-ninth minute; just before the hosts went 3-0 up. In my view, he was lucky only to be booked for a really bad scissors-tackle on Luke Pennington.
Leahy scored again shortly after his penalty success with a lovely shot right into Carson’s top right corner after being allowed to control the ball with his back to goal and then turn on the edge of the Morecambe penalty area. Just over an hour had been played when Udoh took-on Morecambe Skipper Anthony O’Connor on the Morecambe right. Anthony slipped and Utoh swerved a peach of a shot past the visiting stopper to his left to make the score four-nil. After sixty-eight minutes, Bowman scored again as Leahy’s long-range free-kick from the Shrewsbury left reached him at the far post and he nodded it home far too easily.
So that was five-nil with over twenty minutes left. It could have been even more in all truth. And this was against a team which I suspect is at best very ordinary: Town wasted at least three other good chances in the second half and Leigh seemed to genuinely handle the ball in the away penalty area with 62 minutes on the clock – but got away with it. At this point, though, Shrews’ Manager Steve Cotterill had already withdrawn some of his better players – to save them for another day, presumably, with a job already all too easily done.
The Montgomery Waters Stadium wasn’t waterlogged this evening – but Morecambe sank beneath the waves anyway tonight. On this performance they won’t get – and won’t deserve – any more points this season. To call them pathetic after their second half collapse would be a compliment: they were just ten outfield men running around like headless chickens.
Yet – so tight are things in the basement of League One – and so dire are at least five other clubs as well – that all is not lost yet. The Shrimps remain just one point short of safety given that all their rivals who played tonight – Fleetwood; Doncaster and Crewe – contrived to lose as well. None of these clubs have conceded 75 goals this season – Morecambe alone in the Division have managed to clock-up so many. None of them face second-placed Wigan away from home on Saturday either. But Morecambe do.
If they play then like they did tonight, the Wigan Warriors scoreboard will be needed.
I’m sure that Derek Adams was as lost for words tonight to say anything positive about his men’s utterly abject performance as I have been. As usual, though, he was realistic and accentuated the positives. He said:
“I was really happy with the first-half performance because we limited Shrewsbury to two attempts on goal and created some good openings. We passed the ball well at times in midfield. To lose a goal in the way we did was really disappointing. When they got the penalty kick, it deflated us. We have conceded far too many goals. Tonight has definitely not helped us. Defensively, we haven’t been good enough. The gap between us and the two teams or three teams above us is very small and it’s a real setback tonight. I knew the job I was coming into was difficult. It’s become even more difficult. But the points gap is still the same.”
Shrewsbury Town: 1 Marko Marosi; 3 Luke Leahy; 5 Matthew Pennington; 4 Ethan Ebanks-Landell(C); 8 Tyrese Fornah; 10 Josh Vela (7 Shaun Whalley 63’); 11 Daniel Udoh18 Tom Bloxham 63’); 12 Ryan Bowman; 17 Elliott Bennett (22 Joshua Daniels 73’); 23 George Nurse; 33 Tom Flanagan.
Substitutes not used: 13 Harry Burgoyne; 6 Aaron Pierre; 14 Matthew Bondswell; 28 Saikow Janneh.
Morecambe: 30 Trevor Carson; 3 Greg Leigh; 4 Anthony O’Connor (C); 5 Jacob Bedeau; 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 9 Cole Stockton; 10 Aaron Wildig (Y); 11 Dylan Connolly (17 Jonah Ayunga 73’); 19 Shane McLoughlin (Y); 22 Liam Gibson (16 Jacob Mensah 83’); 25 Alfie McCalmont (21 Ryan Cooney 68’).
Subs Not Used: 41 Adam Smith; 24 Arthur Gnahoua; 27 Ousmane Fané. 14 Jonathan Obika.
Ref: Darren Drysdale.
Att: 5804.
