New Era for Swansea – Déjà Vu for Morecambe…
We start today’s report with the latest news from the dreaded Transfer Window and how it has affected Morecambe’s tiny squad. Blackburn Rovers recalled striker Ethan Walker almost as soon as it opened and sent him to National League Oldham Athletic instead. Ethan basically warmed the bench for most of his time with Derek Adams and Ged Brannan. His parent club probably want the young lad to get more game time elsewhere. Good luck to him. James Connolly – who put in some really sound performances for the Shrimps – has also been recalled by League One Bristol Rovers. He will be sorely missed but we must wish him luck in the future as well.
Going in the other direction though, 30-year-old Welsh winger Gwion Edwards has been offered a deal with the Shrimps until the end of the season. His first trip with his new employers, ironically enough, would be today to the club at which he was once a part of the Academy. He has played for a number of EFL teams in the past including Peterborough United; Wigan Athletic and Ipswich Town. Altogether, he has racked-up over 270 appearances in the Football League so far. He has also played North of the Border on-loan at St Johnstone and permanently as recently as last year with another Scottish club all Morecambe fans are far more familiar with: Ross County. A goalkeeper has also been signed on-loan from Norwich City. 22-year-old Scotsman Archie Mair has been playing for Gateshead in the National League so far this term. Last season, though, he was the hero when – as a substitute – he saved two spot-kicks for Notts County to see them enter the EFL for the first time in years as they beat Chesterfield in the National League Play-Off final at Wembley. League Two is a step-up for the young lad which he relishes as a fresh challenge. Having played already this season in the FA Cup, he was ineligible for a place in the team to face Swansea City today.
Morecambe travelled to south Wales for a late kick-off this evening in a game which would be broadcast live to an overseas audience. They hoped to pull-off their third FA Cup tie away victory in a row against clubs from higher EFL divisions in the Third Round of the competition.
Swansea City – like ourselves – are no strangers to turmoil on and off the (Vetch?) field in recent times. Former Cheltenham and Barnsley boss Michael Duff – hand-picked by the Swansea Board to lead their campaign this season – lasted less than six months at the helm of the club. He was never popular with a lot of the Swans’ supporters, who didn’t like his defensive style of play. City failed to win any of their first seven Championship games under his leadership and lost a key one to all-time top tribal rivals Cardiff: a capital offence for any Swans’ Manager. At the point he was sacked just over four weeks ago, Swansea had won only five of nineteen league matches and were just five points above the relegation zone. Since then, replacement Manager – former assistant head coach Alan Sheehan – has enjoyed a really mixed bag of results. Last time out, his team beat much-fancied West Bromwich Albion in the Championship by a goal to nil in south Wales. But on Boxing Day, they were absolutely hammered away from home by Southampton: 5-0.
On January 1st, Mr Sheehan told the media:
“I’ve had conversations this week. Like I keep saying, there is a process to go through and I understand there’s obviously a lot of people interested in the job – but finding the right person (takes time). I suppose when you have taken eleven points out of seven games, sometimes there’s not a big rush, maybe. But I understand the (need for) clarity – for everybody. It needs to be concluded this week I’d say.”
The club had already tried to persuade Chris Davies to return from a coaching role at Spurs to a club where he was once assistant to Manager Brendan Rogers some time ago – and failed. They then turned to the last club Morecambe played away from home – Notts County – and attempted to prise Luke Williams from the pace-setters in League Two. They finally succeeded yesterday after Swansea Chairman Andy Coleman visited him at home personally and spent three hours re-selling the club to the former employee from a few years ago. As a result, Mr Williams is now the new Swans boss. He will be bringing his assistant at County – Ryan Harley – with him along, potentially, as some of Notts’ better players. Speculation is already rife that Macauley Langstaff – who scored his first-ever EFL hat-trick against Morecambe just over a week ago – would be top of the list of these.
So the man in temporary charge of the team for the last month or so has been relegated back to the coaching role he held under Michael Duff. He was technically still in charge of the team tonight for the last time though as the new man in the hot seat was supposed to watch from the sidelines. But Luke Williams was introduced to the crowd prior to kick-off – and took it from there.
Under Alan Sheehan’s leadership, the Swans had won two and lost two of their last five fixtures in the Championship. This has placed them in sixteenth place in their Division: one place higher than Morecambe currently find themselves in as far as League Two is concerned.
The Shrimps have won only one of their last six league games and lost two, including an absolute hammering at what was then Luke Williams’ Notts County on the cusp of the New Year, where they also lost five-nil. Last time out, they managed a last-gasp home draw against Harrogate at home in a game where they were hampered by injuries to three key players during the first half. Leading scorer Michael Mellon had been unwell over the Xmas period and clearly wasn’t ready for a return during the Harrogate game: off he went again. Adam Mayor also had to leave the field with a thigh strain and JJ McKiernan was nobbled by former Morecambe favourite Liam Gibson with a wild challenge for which the Harrogate man wasn’t even cautioned. Today, JJ was sidelined as a result of Gibbo’s foul and he could be out for some time. The future of Michael is also uncertain for different reasons – the fear is that he will be imminently recalled by Burnley – but he was sufficiently recovered from illness to be names as a substitute against Swansea tonight. Adam was also fit enough after Saturday’s knock to sit on the bench this evening.
Prior to the game, Morecambe Manager Ged Brannan told the media:
“Bring on Swansea; let’s see what happens there. The lads are looking forward to it; really excited about it. We’re going to go there; give it our very best – it’s a free hit. We go there with no pressure on us – underdogs – and we’ll see what we get out of it. They are going to be quality; they are going to be top-notch; they are all great on the ball – proper athletes. So it’s going to be a really tough game. We are going to have to keep the ball, aren’t we? – we can’t keep giving the ball back to them – we will get punished. So we’ll go with a game plan – and hopefully, it works.”
It has been stormy and exceptionally wet right across Britain this week and the game started on a soft surface which cut-up quite badly the longer the game went on. For once, however, there was no rain in south Wales today and the game kicked-off under clear albeit dark skies at half past five.
Swansea’s deserved reputation for playing the Beautiful Game more often than not in recent times is reflected in the width of their pitch. Unusually, it looks almost square given the space which is available on both wings at the Liberty Stadium.
Just before the game started, the two home mascots – Cyril the Swan and his girlfriend – sorry, wife Cybil – walked around the pitch and waved at their supporters.
I put myself in the shoes of a very small Swansea fan as this happened. If I was to find a thing as simply horrific as Cyril – with an apparently broken neck – silently and menacingly bearing down on me with his dead eyes, grubby outfit and huge beak, I think I might have an accident in my underwear and possibly even nightmares as a result, personally. What a horror…
(The club have been fined £1000 for an incident with Millwall’s Mascot – Den-Nis the Menace – in London where Cyril used surprisingly – shall we say `fruity’ – language (particularly for a creature which is supposed to be a Mute Swan) which I can’t repeat here. Look it up if you must… Oh – and I made the bit about ` Den-Nis the Menace’ up: it’s far better than the real name of this thing – `Zumba’ – and I want 50% of the royalties if they choose to change it…)
Anyway, there had been loads of rumours swirling amongst Shrimps’ fans prior to the game, with half of our team either gone or about to leave depending on which particular Chinese Whispers you had listened to. In fact, Our Ged shook things up considerably and his starting eleven included Chris Stokes; Charlie Brown and Oscar Threlkeld, all of whom have struggled to make much impression on the First Team this season. Michael Mellon hadn’t either returned to Burnley or been sent to a Championship side (Preston being the unlikely favourite among the rumours I heard); Eli King wasn’t on the local bus back to Cardiff and Adam Mayor hadn’t been sold to anybody either: all three men sat on the bench. Along-side them were new signing Gwion Edwards and Academy forward Saul Fox. Facing them – to give this game some sort of perspective – were players such as Yannick Bolasie (who was once sold by Crystal Palace to Everton for £25 million pounds) and Joe Allen, the former Liverpool and Welsh international who moved with former Swansea boss Brendan Rogers from south Wales to Merseyside as long ago as 2012 for £15 million pounds. Could a team of loanees, Second or even Third chancers and youngsters really give a team like Swansea a run for their money?
The answer is: definitively yes. The first half was one of very few chances for either side. After six minutes, Azeem Abdulai took a shot which hit Jacob Bedeau and went for a corner. From another corner to the visitors, Chis Stokes was unable to get a shot away when the ball fell nicely for him four minutes later. Thirty-seven minutes were on the clock when Yannick Bolasie cut-in from the City left and sent a vicious dipping strike just over the bar to Smith’s left. With four minutes scheduled to play, Charlie Brown’s free-kick was deflected by the home defence for another corner. But with the home crowd silent as the grave, that was virtually the sum total of the first half’s action. Swan’s custodian Andrew Fisher didn’t have a save to make and the only one Opposite Number Adam Smith was obliged to execute was an excellent one after fourteen minutes. He did absolutely brilliantly to change direction completely and push a header from Charlie Patino over the bar as it seemed destined to nestle in the top right corner of his net. The match was a stalemate otherwise: Morecambe seemed happy to defend and hit on the break and the home team struggled to put any real pressure on the men in the red shirts at any time. So the team from England would have been far the happier as they went back to the Changing Rooms at half time. Another forty-five minutes of the same and they would be taking the Swans back for a replay in Lancashire and their name would also be in the hat for the fourth round draw for the first time ever.
Sadly, this hope was undone within two minutes of the re-start. Sam Parker got the ball on the Swansea right and slung over a simple cross which found Patino on the far side of the penalty area. His tap-in from close range gave Smith absolutely no chance and City were a goal to the good. There was no VAR at this venue today, which is a shame: the replays show the scorer goal-side of last Morecambe man Farrend Rawson at the point Parker launched the ball towards him – the goal should have been ruled-out. Swansea didn’t have things all their own way after this, though. If Charlie Brown learns that pretending to be seriously hurt when you aren’t, he will be a better player for it. He fell about as if pole-axed after a foul which deservedly earned Nathan Wood a booking after 77 minutes. Later though, as he clearly exaggerated another `injury’; his reluctance to get up and get on with the game meant that he was actually lying in an off-side position as his team-mates were playing quickly and counter-attacking during the second half. The move thus came to nothing and it was Charlie’s fault. He didn’t play badly during the game and drew at least one genuinely poor challenge but he really does need to learn to stay on his feet. Jordan Slew had another effective match and new boy Gwion Edwards caught the eye with a couple of flicks and tricks when he made his debut in front of his original home crowd as a substitute in the second half. As the away support noisily continued to urge the Shrimps onwards, Ged Brannan’s patched-up team just didn’t have the cutting edge to pull the game out of the fire. Right at the death – in the 87th minute – Joel Senior headed a lobbed Swansea pass down their left flank into the danger area of the middle of the pitch instead of opting for a safer option: it was a clearly a tired move by a player with a tired mind. The ball fell perfectly for Jerry Yates, who gratefully accepted the present and swept it home from the edge of the penalty area. Again, Adam Smith had no chance of keeping it out.
So that was it: the elusive Fourth Round yet again just out of reach of the valiant Shrimps. They gave their all today and were far from outclassed by a team which – on paper at least – should have won a lot more easily. Most of the five hundred or so supporters from Lancashire stayed behind to clap their Manager and their players at the end of the game. If football matches could be won merely by the strength of the two club’s support; Morecambe would have won today’s match at a canter. But it wasn’t to be. This is what Our Ged had to say about it after the match, beginning with his analysis of the opposition:
“They’re top players, aren’t they? Championship – they’ve got good players right the way through the team. I think we had four players on the pitch who have played hardly no minutes this season. I was made up for them. Eli pulled his groin yesterday; Blocko (has) been sick; even our goalkeeper Adam was sick today – so he done brilliant; he made some great saves. Bad injuries and sicknesses right through the squad. It’s not an excuse – they still played great – they couldn’t have played any better today anyway. I’m happy with the way the lads played today. I think if we show that discipline every game and that commitment and the effort – I think we will be fine this season.”
Asked what he thought about Swansea’s first goal, he replied:
“It looked offside to me. To give a goal away like that – and it’s offside – it’s just so disappointing: it kills our whole rhythm and it spoils the day really.
Finally, he said:
“How good were the fans today? Were we the home team or the away team? All you could hear was them singing the whole game. (To) stay (and be) clapping the players off the pitch: our away fans are absolutely brilliant – our home fans are good but our away fans especially are very, very good.”
Swansea City XI Cychwynol (Starting 11): 1 Andrew Fisher; 3 Kristian Pederson; 7 Joe Allen (8 Matt Grimes 57’); 9 Jerry Yates (19 Mykola Kukharevych 87’); 17 Yannick Bolasie (12 Jamie Paterson 67’); 18 Charlie Patino; 23 Nathan Wood (Y); 26 Kyle Naughton; 31 Oliver Cooper; 41 Sam Parker (20 Liam Cullen 67’); 47 Azeem Abdulai (33 Bashir Humphreys 57’).
Eilyddion (Substitutes): 20 Liam Cullen; 21 Nathan Tjoe-A-On; 22 Carl Rushworth; 49 Kyrell Wilson; 50 Filip Lissah.
Morecambe: 21 Adam Smith; 3 David Tutonda; 4 Jacob Bedeau; 5 Farrend Rawson (C); 6 Yann Songo’o (9 Michael Mellon 76’); 14 Jordan Slew (11 Adam Mayor (Y) 69’) 15 Chris Stokes (17 Cammy Smith 77’); 12 Joel Senior; 18 Jake Taylor; 20 Charlie Brown (7 Tom Bloxham 68’); 8 Oscar Threlkeld (Gwion Edwards (Y) 53’).
Substitutes not used: 26 George Pedley; 8 Eli King; 16 Jacob Davenport; 23 Max Melbourne; 33 Saul Fox.
Ref: Tom Nield.
Att: 7,670 (about 500 from Morecambe.)
