Joseph: Morecambe’s Technicolour Nightmare…

Morecambe travelled to Gloucestershire tonight to face their third League One game in a row on the road. The Shrimps were sixteenth in the table when they arrived in Cheltenham, having lost two and won two of their last five League One games. Worryingly, though, they have lost both of their last fixtures. Manager Stephen Robinson has divvied the season up into five–game blocks. The defeats last Friday at Burton and Wycombe the week before that mean that they now need to win at least a couple of the next three matches in order to keep Robbo’s plan – to win at least two out of every five games – on track. Or, as he put it: 

“I talk about blocks all the time and this one hasn’t gone as well as we would have wanted so far. We needed to win two games at the start of it and we still need two games. Nothing has changed. It is up to me to find a slight tweak in what we do without coming away from what has been very good.  It may be changing the personnel slightly or maybe changing the system slightly. I won’t be coming away from my principles in how we play, pass the ball or press. (I need) to give us a bit more of a defensive nous in there. People make mistakes at this level and don’t get punished. We have made mistakes and have been punished but we don’t make excuses about it. We hold our hands up and ultimately I have to take full responsibility for it.”  

For their part, Cheltenham had lost three of their last five games and won the other two, including a victory here against Accrington Stanley by the only goal of the game last Saturday. They were two places but just a single point better off than their visitors before the game started this evening. Manager Michael Duff had this to say about the opposition his team would face tonight prior to the game: 

“Morecambe are a really good team. They surprised everyone last year but they’ve built on that. I think only Ipswich have scored more goals than them. We know we’re going to be right up against it.”

In previous clashes in all competitions, both sides had won seven of twenty-four games. Last season, though – as Cheltenham were on their way to become Champions of League Two – Morecambe won both games against them; the first one at tonight’s venue in the inaugural match of the campaign.

 Could they do so again?

Stephen Robinson rang the changes after Morecambe’s sometimes shambolic display at Burton last Friday. Jökull Andrésson started in goal and poorly-performing Ryan Cooney plus disappointing Wes McDonald were both relegated to the bench. Perhaps surprisingly, Adam Phillips started tonight. The Manager was probably hoping for a positive reaction from this man, whose performance at the Pirelli Stadium was nothing short of appalling.

The game started in pouring rain which never relented for a moment at Whaddon Road during the first half and rarely in the second. Morecambe were playing with three at the back and – unusually – two up-front, where Jonah Ayunga was tasked to take some of the pressure off goal machine Cole Stockton. Jonah, indeed, had the first chance of the game when – at full stretch – he almost got a foot to Greg Leigh’s long ball from the left which skidded rapidly across the slippery surface after just two minutes.  At the other end, Kyle Vassell latched onto a back-header on the right of the penalty area from his point of view with five minutes played. He let fly and saw the ball beat Jökull Andrésson all ends up only to hit the goalkeeper’s left-hand post and then be bundled away for a corner by the Shrimps’ defence. The hosts had the next good chance three minutes later too, when the young Icelander in the visitors’ net made a tremendous and brave save at the feet of Kyle Joseph. Worryingly, the chance had been set up by a simple pass through the middle of the opposing defence by the very impressive Dan Crowley. Ten minutes were on the clock when Cole Stockton slipped his marker and made an excellent run down the Morecambe left flank only for his progress to be stopped by sheer weight of numbers. He got away again a minute later but his attempted pass to Adam Phillips in the middle was cut-out by home defenders. Former Robins’ Captain Ben Tozer has taken the King’s Shilling and gone to free-spending Wrexham in the National League. But his spirit lives on in the aptly-named Sean Long, whose surname aptly describes his throw-ins. In the unrelenting rain, these caused problems for the visitors throughout the evening. The lively Vassell headed way wide with just over a quarter of an hour played. Then Phillips took a speculative shot from a long way out which was deflected for a corner after seventeen minutes. He took it himself – and walloped the ball right over the goal into touch on the other side. A few minutes later, Morecambe were awarded a free-kick on their left after a Robins’ player had expected the ball to go into touch and handled it before it actually did so. Phillips took it again and once more over-hit the ball straight into touch. But after twenty-five minutes, the hosts took the lead through Liam Sercombe. Long threw the ball in from the Cheltenham right; it wasn’t cleared and the Robins’ Skipper beat a helpless Andrésson with an instant and powerful volley. As the rain continued to hammer down, Long himself had a half-chance for the hosts from a corner but the ball was soon at the other end of the field. For unknown reasons, home custodian Scott Flinders chose to pick-up a ball that had been passed back to him some time earlier by one of his own players – Chris Hussey – as Cole The Goal bore down on him. Referee Ben Speedie immediately awarded an indirect free kick; Leigh rolled it to Phillips and the Burnley loanee atoned somewhat for a poor display so far with a goal which ended-up low to Flinders’ right in the corner of the net.

Stockton was then clearly held back as the ball was played in front of him after 41 minutes and as the Shrimps continued to press forward, Leigh headed a fine cross by Phillips on the Morecambe right back from the far post to smack against Flinders’ right-hand post with the keeper merely a spectator.

So Morecambe returned to the Dressing Rooms at half time in the ascendency and good value for a draw in a game which – despite the awful conditions – was always good to watch.

The Shrimps started the second half quite well too. After Vassell had headed over the bar for the hosts in the first minute, Phillips again took a shot from a long way out which was deflected for another corner. From this, Leigh and Anthony O’Connor set-up The Goal Machine to bundle the ball into the net with forty-seven minutes played. He was ruled to be off-side though so the strike didn’t count.

Vassell tried his luck again after 53 minutes – and contrived to blast the ball over the stand roof and right out of the ground. It was last seen heading rapidly towards the International Space Station. Two minutes later, Phillips showed everyone what he can do if he actually applies himself when his phenomenal pass from the Morecambe right just inside his own half was inch-perfect to Greg Leigh to the left of the home penalty area from his point of view. He played in Ayunga but Jonah was caught in two minds: his shot-come-cross to Cole was neither one thing nor the other and the chance came to nothing. As the rain fell even more heavily than ever, Vassell’s point-blank header from Crowley’s cross from the Robins’ right was brilliantly saved by the young Icelander in the Morecambe goal after 57 minutes. The home forward then squandered another chance just moments later before a well-placed Sercombe in the centre of the away penalty area forced another brilliant save from the visiting goalkeeper with an hour or so played. But with sixty-four minutes on the clock, the Morecambe dam was well and truly breached again.  Swansea City loanee Kyle Joseph responded instantly to Conor Thomas’ nice cross from the right to belt the ball past a helpless Andrésson to restore the Robins’ lead. The young Scotsman scored almost immediately again when the visitors gave him enough time and space to find a better angle on the Cheltenham right before swerving a sublime shot around Jökull and into the net via his far post.

After that, there were a few half-chances for both teams but no more goals despite the fact that Robbo shuffled his pack and actually went for it in the last twenty minutes or so.

That’s now three away games lost in a row and ten goals conceded for the Shrimps. It sounds – and is – bad. But I thought they played quite well at times tonight and certainly better than they had done last time out against Burton. No need to panic, Captain Mainwearing. Not just yet anyway. Cheltenham are a good team, as Michael Duff’s sides invariably tend to be. The win pushed them up into twelfth position in League Two. Morecambe, meanwhile, dropped to eighteenth.

Cheltenham: 20 Scott Flinders; 2 Sean Long; 3 Chris Hussey; 4 Mattie Pollock; 7 Conor Thomas; 8 Liam Sercombe (C); 9 Kyle Vassell (27 Christian Norton 82’); 11 Ellis Chapman; 17 Matty Blair; 21 Kyle Joseph (10 Alfie May79’); 28 Daniel Crowley (26 Dylan Barkers 78’).

Subs Not Used:  1 Owen Evans; 6 Lewis Freestone; 14 Andy Williams; 24 Grant Horton.

Morecambe: 20 Jökull Andrésson; 3 Greg Leigh; 4 Anthony O’Connor (C) (Y); 8 Toumani Diagouraga (24 Arthur Gnahoua (Y) 69’); 9 Cole Stockton; 15 Ryan Delaney; 17 Jonah Ayunga; 18 Adam Phillips; 19 Shane McLoughlin; 22 Liam Gibson (21 Ryan Cooney 63’); 31 Scott Wootten (7 Wes McDonald 69’).

Subs Not Used:  1 Kyle Letheren; 2 Ryan McLaughlin; 6 Callum Jones; 16 Jacob Mensah.

Ref: Ben Speedie. 

Att: 2909 (105 from Morecambe)