Early Dawes not Encouraging for Tranmere
Today was another potentially really memorable one in Morecambe Football Club’s Centenary season. Having missed-out on automatic promotion to League One by just one single point, they had a second bite at the cherry this afternoon in the first leg of the League Two Play-Off semi-Final at Prenton Park on Merseyside.
Hosts Tranmere Rovers started the game as the lowest -placed Play-Off contenders and went into the match on the back of just two wins and two draws in their last five league outings. In previous clashes, Rovers have an excellent return against Morecambe: five wins and just two defeats in eight meetings in all competitions. One of these wins was last January at the Mazuma Stadium – a game memorable – or should that be `notorious’? – for the sending-off of Yann Songo’o for suggesting one Tranmere player was a `Faggot’ and for which he has been subsequently sanctioned with a six match ban. This would clearly add a little bit of spice to today’s contest as both Yann and the man he accused of feigning injury – Paul Lewis – would face each other again.
Historically, this was only the second time the Shrimps have reached any EFL Play-Offs. The last time was 2010, when the eruptions of an Icelandic volcano interfered with aircraft travel right across the Western world. I remember this because as Morecambe took on Dagenham & Redbridge at Victoria Road, I was on a flight supposed to go from Faro in Portugal to Blackpool. The plane was diverted to Newcastle because of volcanic ash sweeping down the west coast of Britain and arrived just after the match in London had ended. My partner Annie and I turned our phones back on and the first message she received was from her sister, Lynne: “Morecambe lost 6-0. This is not a joke.” It wasn’t a joke – but the way Sammy McIlroy’s team had played apparently was and this score remains the record defeat of any club participating in any Conference/National League or EFL Play-Offs ever. Hats Off to the club though – in the second leg (the last game ever to be played at Christie Park), instead of playing `Bring Me Sunshine’ by Eric and Ernie as usual before the teams emerged from the tunnel, the theme to `Mission Impossible’ was substituted instead…
This was a very possible mission for the Shrimps today, though. As far as Morecambe were concerned, Manager Derek Adams set the scene thus:
“We’ve had a magnificent season. To finish with 78 points, to finish with 23 wins out of 46 games and to finish fourth in the league, it’s been a fantastic season. It’s not over yet because we’ve put ourselves in the play-offs. We’re delighted to be where we are. The players have had a terrific time, scored goals and put on a good show.”
So what did his Opposite Manager from last time the two clubs met – Keith Hill – have to say?
We will never know. Because the hierarchy at Prenton Park decided to reward Mr Hill for his sterling efforts in taking Rovers from a team struggling to stay in League Two when he took over last November to the EFL Trophy final as well as the Play-Off positions today by sacking him virtually the very minute this tremendous achievement was in the bag. That’s quite surprising in itself for two reasons. 1) It doesn’t say much for the loyalty the club has to its employees: what more could any Manager realistically be expected to do? 2) It bucks a trend – opposition Managers (such as Keith’s predecessor at Tranmere, Mike Jackson who was shown the door literally within an hour of the Shrimps’ victory at Prenton Park last year) are usually sacked after a game with `little old Morecambe’; not before…
Ee – there’s nowt as strange as football…
So the first question would be: what effect would the replacement of Keith Hill by his former assistant Ian Dawes have on the Wirral team’s performance? Clearly the Top Brass at Tranmere expected this extraordinary move to motivate their players. We Morecambe fans – and probably most neutrals looking-in from outside on a sacking which appears (on the surface at least) to be nothing less than a really nasty kick in the Wotsits for poor old Keith – hoped it would backfire on them.
But would it?
The Morecambe Manager at least didn’t expect it to:
“We know how Tranmere are going to play in the game, from the point of view that Ian Dawes has taken over and we understand his ideas on the game. We know what he did when he took over the last time but, as we always say, it’s about how we play and how we take the game to Tranmere – that’s the most important thing.”
Prior to the game, Mr Dawes himself said the following:
“The fans know what these games are like. There’s going to be ups and downs and they will know how to manage that and get right behind the team. I know they’re going to be united and get behind the players from the minute one. Some of the players and staff have seen it before but I’m really looking forward to the occasion.”
Their fans certainly do know what these games are like because Tranmere are no strangers to Play-Offs in both the EFL and Conference/National League in recent times and have a long history of playing in them. As a member of the second tier, they missed-out on promotion to the then new Premiership three years in a row between 1993 and 1995. In 2004, having been relegated to the newly-renamed League One, they lost the opportunity to return to the Championship in the Play-Off Semi-Final on penalties against Hartlepool United. They then contrived to lose for the fifth time in a row when they were beaten at Wembley by Forest Green Rovers as a Conference side in 1990. However, they finally managed to win a Play-Off competition when they beat Boreham Wood the next year to return to the EFL. They repeated the feat the following year, getting revenge on FGR before beating Newport County at Wembley to book a very short stint in League One. So was the Rovers’ Return to Wembley going to be on the cards again today?
The weather had been wet, windy and unseasonable cold in the north of England today. The match started and ended in pouring rain but it was dry for large parts of it in between. The pattern of play was soon established: the home team went onto the front foot right from the off and the visitors –with Aaron Wildig and Toumani Diagouraga virtually anonymous in midfield – played on the break. Right from the start, Corey Blackett-Taylor caught the eye with his marauding runs up the Tranmere left flank and Ryan Cooney found himself with his hands full throughout the first half at least. James Vaughan is a combative centre forward who takes no prisoners but his muscular approach to the game was well dealt with throughout by Morecambe’s very resilient and well-organised rearguard, ably led by Skipper Sam Lavelle. Rovers Captain Peter Clarke drew a fairly regular save from visiting custodian Kyle Letheren after eight minutes with the first accurate strike by either side on goal. Tranmere forced a succession of corner kicks in the early period of the game but when Morecambe finally won one of their own after fourteen minutes, they scored. Aaron Wildig’s dead ball kick was headed goalwards by Lavelle only for the ball to be blocked on the line by goalkeeper Joe Murphy as Carlos Mendes-Gomes attempted a bicycle kick in front of him; the ball ran to Stephen Hendrie on the Shrimps’ right who walloped it goalwards for Nathaniel Knight-Percival to react fastest and steer the ball home from close in. It was a classic counter-punch after which the visitors seemed happy again to allow their hosts to have most of the ball. Tranmere were certainly in control of the game when Captain Clarke powered his way to a determined header against Hendrie and steered a long looping lob by Liam Ridehalgh on the Tranmere left powerfully past Letheren to equalise after eighteen minutes. Rovers looked the most likely team to go ahead for much of the rest of the half and had the best chances until injury time. Vaughan missed with a poor effort when well placed after 20 minutes and might have been awarded a penalty when Lavelle clearly pulled him back a little while later. Letheren pulled-off a tremendous save from the same player who was unmarked and centrally placed when he let fly after 23 minutes. The Shrimps’ goalkeeper then punched a corner away after 36 minutes only to see the ball played to Vaughan who missed with a poor headed effort with his back to goal. A wild shot from Jay Spearing went to Letheren’s left after thirty-eight minutes and Morecambe had another let-off a couple of minutes later when the Shrimps’ big Welsh goalkeeper collided with Vaughan and the ball went loose. But the visitors survived. In injury time, they were awarded a free kick. The ball found its way to `Toums’ just to the right of centre from his point of view. He picked-out Cole Stockton to his right. Cole controlled the ball and slid a perfect pass to strike partner Liam McAlinden virtually on the Tranmere goal-line and Liam made no mistake by putting the visitors back into the lead right at the death.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first. Derek Adams had clearly told him men to hold a line further up the pitch and although Rovers still enjoyed the bulk of the possession, they failed to apply any sustained pressure on their visitors. Blackett-Taylor went off the boil and Vaughan – probably not match fit after a long injury lay-off – offered little apart from the occasional foul. They were both substituted as Ian Dawes tried to shake things up with a triple substitution with twenty minutes left – to no avail. Morecambe maintained their shape and their discipline tonight despite some provocation particularly towards the end of the game as Tranmere’s players seemed to become increasingly frustrated. Ridehalgh was lucky to stay on the field after 73 minutes when, having fouled Cooney, he clearly kicked the Morecambe player as he lay on the ground. There was some nonsense involving Carlos, Lee O’Connor and substitute Danny Lloyd-McGoldrick late on and all three men’s names went into the Referee Darren Drysdale’s notebook. The home team’s frustration was probably best summed-up by a really wild attempt on goal by Skipper Clarke with about ten minutes left to play. But the game ended with a shout for a penalty to Morecambe as Wildig seemed to be brought-down following a free-kick after 96 minutes. There was a lot of injury time but the visitors seemed happy to play this out the way they had done all game – keeping their shape and defending resolutely.
This was a classic smash and grab by Derek Adams and his men. They obviously arrived with a Game Plan – and executed it perfectly. So the earliest of Early Dawes ended in disappointment for Tranmere’s new manager. It’s not all over yet but Derek Adams and his team have an unprecedentedly good chance of booking a visit to Wembley on May 31st next Sunday at the Mazuma Stadium in the second leg.
Finally, a word about next Sunday’s match. Morecambe’s local paper, the Visitor, wrote the following last week, beginning with the words of the joint Chairman of the town’s club, Rod Taylor:
`“As much as it’s great to be in the play-offs and in the mix for who knows where, it’s great to have some fans back – even if it’s in limited numbers. It’s a great problem to have, but watching football without fans isn’t right.”
Morecambe’s ticket allocation process for the home leg has, however, attracted some criticism.
Season ticket holders for 2020/21 were given priority when they went on sale at the end of last week before all other remaining tickets were put on open sale on Saturday. It led to questions as to why another priority window wasn’t available for people who paid to watch games on i-Follow or purchased 2019/20 season tickets and didn’t renew this time around because of the uncertainty surrounding matches in 2020/21. A statement regarding the sale of tickets for the Tranmere game is due to be issued on Monday but a number of approaches had been considered. Taylor said: “We looked at a few options, we looked at various things we could implement. Unfortunately, we couldn’t download the data from iFollow in time for the ticket launch. That was one of the big issues. I do understand why the question’s been asked but we’ve got to deal with what’s in front of us.”’
I’m one of those people who has paid to watch all of Morecambe’s matches on i-Follow this season and hasn’t missed a home game prior to the pandemic for literally years. I haven’t been able to buy a ticket though so I won’t be there on Sunday. I know I’m not alone in this. I have no problem with season ticket holders being given priority to attend the match – good luck to them: their loyalty should be rewarded. But for the club not to differentiate between loyal supporters and the usual Fair Weather fans and general Hangers-On who will inevitably be present at the Maz next Sunday is neither fair nor reasonable. The ticket launch should have been delayed until the metrics were available to make the distribution of tickets more equitable. How difficult would that be? – the club have access to all the data after all. There is nothing more to be said except that I am personally dismayed beyond words that I – along with many other proper Shrimps fans – will not be able to witness potentially the greatest day in the history of the football club we have supported through thick and thin over the last number of years. When I think that there will be people in the ground next weekend who only ever attend when the club have a chance of winning something –or have never even watched Morecambe previously at all – all I can say is that there is something very badly wrong somewhere.
Tranmere Rovers: 13 Joe Murphy; 26 Peter Clarke (C); 8 Jay Spearing; 7 Kieron Morris; 3 Liam Ridehalgh; 6 Manny Monthe; 17 Otis Khan (22 Paul Lewis 70’); 2 Lee O’Connor (Y); 9 James Vaughan (Y) (28 David Nugent 79’); 19 Liam Feeney (35 Danny Lloyd-McGoldrick (Y) 70’); 11 Corey Blackett-Taylor (14 Kaiyne Woollery 70’).
Subs not used: 30 Ben Jones; 4 Sid Nelson; 18 Calum MacDonald.
Morecambe: 1 Kyle Letheren; 21 Ryan Cooney 4 Nathaniel Knight-Percival; 5 Sam Lavelle (C); 3 Stephen Hendrie (22 Liam Gibson 52‘); 24 Yann Songo’o; 10 Aaron Wildig; 8 Toumani Diagouraga; 9 Cole Stockton; 19 Liam McAlinden (15 Brad Lyons (Y) 76’); 11 Carlos Mendes-Gomes (Y).
Subs not used: 12 Mark Halstead; 6 Harry Davis; 18 Ben Pringle; 14 Alex Kenyon; 17 A-Jay Leitch-Smith.
Ref: Darren Drysdale.
Attendance: About 600 home supporters.
