No Gloom for Morecambe at Wycombe as the fog thickens…
Morecambe took a break from their increasingly dire league form today to visit League One Wycombe in the second round of the FA Cup. It’s been a tough week for new Manager Ged Brannan. Under his interim leadership, they were hammered by Wrexham six-nil last Saturday and then they tamely lost their unbeaten home record against Newport last Tuesday night after leading the tie early doors. If they were to play even half as badly today as they did throughout the Wrexham humiliation or as shambolically as they did during most of the second half against the Exiles, they might just as well have stayed at home today.
Morecambe have a good recent record against the Chairboys; two wins and a draw in their last three meetings. This is a vast improvement of their first eleven clashes in various competitions, where the Shrimps didn’t win a single game but lost seven of them. Altogether, Morecambe have played Wycombe 22 times and managed to win six and lose ten. Reflecting on the loss against Newport just four days ago, Mr Brannan said the following before his team travelled to Buckinghamshire for the match:
“We need to carry on the way we played first half by keeping the ball, getting at them at pace like we did. After the Wrexham game – obviously, I weren’t Manager then; I was Manager against Newport – I had this knot in me stomach where I felt physically sick; thinking `Oh wow – what are we going to do here?’ But then we played Newport and even though we got beat I felt a lot better because I knew we’ve got the quality on the pitch; I see that they were going to fight for me. I know that we will get some good results with that team we’ve got.”
For the opposition, long-term boss Gareth Ainsworth – fancied by many Shrimps’ fans to replace Derek Adams – is long-gone. Wycombe’s form has taken a dip with it. The former Championship club lie fifteenth in League One but have not won a league game in their last five outings, of which they have lost three. The most recent reverse was suffered away against Barnsley last Saturday when goalkeeper Max Stryjek attempted to waste time by failing to pick-up the ball and allowed Tykes’ striker Sam Cosgrove to nick it off him and roll it into an empty net. This was literally the last move of a game which the Chairboys lost 1-0. We could do with an act of similar generosity today but Stryjek would not be responsible for it as he was dropped in favour of Franco Ravizzoli.
This was Wycombe boss Matt Broomfield’s take on this afternoon’s game:
“Obviously, we know that there’s been a change of Manager at Morecambe in the recent past. So that brings with it a slight change of dynamic and the way they might want to set-up and play. So we have to make sure we have the focus on ourselves; be the best that we can possibly be; prepare for our opposition. We have to be as good as we can be and make sure we are on our top flight game.”
Wycombe have progressed so much since they were a non-league club not that many years ago that they now have undersoil heating at their Adams Park ground. So – given that the temperature was still below zero at midday today in the town – this had been switched on in order to make the match playable later in the afternoon. At kick-off time, it was even more bitterly cold (-4˚C and even cooler as the match ended) and the skies above the stadium had descended to envelop the stadium in thin, wispy mist.
The visitors – playing in their home strip – had the first effort of the game. David Tutonda tried his luck with a shot from a long way out which never troubled the home goalkeeper. Wanderers’ Killian Phillips then forced a good save from Adam Smith after six minutes which the away goalkeeper pushed away to his left for a corner which came to nothing. It took eleven minutes for the visitors to win a corner which also came to nothing. Morecambe conceded a number of corners in the first twenty minutes or so but the hosts did not trouble the visiting keeper and Phillips’ further effort after just over a quarter of an hour missed the target altogether. As the away team offered little threat going forward, the Chairboys enjoyed the bulk of possession as the game grew older but did little with it. A snap-shot by Kian Breckin after an exchange of passes with Lyle Taylor after 29 minutes from about 20 yards out was straight at Smith and he held it confidently. Morecambe won a free-kick with about ten minutes before half time which was headed away for a corner which the home goalkeeper punched away for a throw-in. They won another corner straight away and Adam Mayor slung it across to the back post from the Morecambe left to where Eli King was waiting to open his account for the Shrimps with a fine header as Wycombe’s replacement goalkeeper flapped ineffectually at the cross as it looped over him. So, with their first decent opportunity in a scrappy game, the visitors took the lead. And that was basically that for the first half – as the mist became freezing fog, the team in the red strip went back to the Dressing Rooms looking forward to a place in tomorrow’s draw for the third round of the competition.
As the Morecambe Drum pierced the gloom at a sparsely-populated stadium otherwise as quiet as the grave at the beginning of the second half, it could have been expected that the home team would try and put pressure in their lower division opponents. They won a corner after a couple of minutes but did nothing with it. Five minutes had been played when JJ McKiernan danced into the home penalty area and then fell over – to absolutely no effect as Referee Peter Wright was totally unimpressed. The two hundred or so Shrimps’ supporters could be clearly heard chanting and singing as JJ then forced a good save from Ravizzoli in the fifty-fourth minute. King then found Michael Mellon on the left three minutes later. He took the ball forward and slipped a perfect pass into the path of Tom Bloxham, who walloped the ball home to score both the second goal of the game and the second of his Morecambe career. All the football was being played by the team from Lancashire at this point as Yann Songo’o headed another corner just wide with an hour on the clock. Wanderers’ boss Matt Broomfield shook things up with no less than four changes in the sixtieth minute. But Morecambe’s response was to have the next good chance of the game with Mellon planting the ball just wide of the post in the 63rd minute when he might have done better. Bloxham than wasted another opportunity on the break a couple of minutes later. Morecambe were looking increasingly effective on the counter-attack as the League One team continued to offer virtually nothing offensively. Lyle Taylor eventually took a shot for the home side in the 67th minute which was so far wide of the target that it went out for a throw-in.
As Adam Mayor was booked for trying to dry the slippery ball on his shirt, the men in the old-fashioned blue and white halved tops were still offering very little in terms of getting back into the match. Mayor escaped down the left again with almost eighty minutes played and slipped a pass right across the away penalty area which was just out of reach of the onrushing Mellon.
There wasn’t much more action to comment on after this. In truth, Wycombe never looked like pulling the game out of the fire at any point. In fact, the only shot they had on target throughout the second half was from 35 yards and direct at Adam Smith in the 96th minute – far too little; much too late.
The relief on the face of Morecambe’s new manager at the end of the game was tangible. With his first win as Shrimps’ boss attained away from home against a supposedly superior team and with a clean sheet thrown-in for good measure, he was positively purring. And why shouldn’t he be? – this was a superb result. This is what Ged said:
“I am absolutely delighted. I thought the lads were outstanding today. I thought the discipline that they showed all over the pitch – especially the three midfield players; holding their position; breaking them down – I thought (Wycombe) run out of ideas in the end because we were so well organised today. I’d just like to give the lads a special mention on the set-pieces. Obviously we’ve conceded a few goals from corners and crosses. I thought today we changed it a little bit; we tweaked it a little bit; (we) had a chat with all the boys during the week; worked on it and it worked perfect today. I thought we counter-attacked really well today. When we got the ball, we kept possession really well. I thought it was just an all-round top performance. We look a proper, solid unit. That’s the way we need to go from now on. I feel a bit light-headed – I’m so happy to get that win under my belt. I’m made up for the lads as well and the fans that travelled down. It’s great for the club as well: it’s a big game today; the financing of today’s game to get through to the next round.”
Wycombe Wanderers: 25 Franco Ravizzoli; 4 Josh Scowen (C); 5 Chris Forino (3 Joe Jacobson 72’); 6 Ryan Tafazolli; 8 Kian Breckin (16 Richard Keogh 60’); 17 Joe Low (2 Jack Grimmer 60’); 20 Dale Taylor (29 Tjay De Barr 60’); 22 Killian Phillips (Y); 23 Kieran Sadlier; 30 Lyle Taylor; 31 Jasper Pattenden (12 Garath McCleary 60’).
Substitutes not used: 1 Max Stryjek; 32 Taylor Clark.
Morecambe: 21 Adam Smith (Y); 3 David Tutonda; 4 Jacob Bedeau; 5 Farrend Rawson (C); 6 Yann Songo’o (18 Jake Taylor 86’); 7 Tom Bloxham (14 Jordan Slew 79’); 8 Eli King; 9 Michael Mellon; 10 JJ McKiernan; 11 Adam Mayor (Y); 12 Joel Senior.
Substitutes not used: 26 George Pedley; 15 Chris Stokes; 16 Jacob Davenport; 17 Cammy Smith; 19 Ethan Walker; 22 James Connolly; 23 Max Melbourne.
Ref: Peter Wright.
Att: 1,604 (about two hundred from Morecambe.)
