No GBH at FGR
Morecambe renewed an old acquaintanceship with Forest Green Rovers today when they visited Nailsworth in Gloucestershire for the first time in two years. There, the only Vegan football club on the planet are experiencing their first exploratory steps on the lofty plain of League One football. It hasn’t gone brilliantly so far. Even before the new season started, Right-On FGR Chairman Dale Vince had made it very plain that the way Watford had poached the Manager who had steered Forest Green out of League Two – Rob Edwards – without approaching him or the club about their intentions was a very shabby piece of business. Left in the lurch at the very last minute, Chairman Vince turned to Ian Burchnall to pick up the baton and attempt to consolidate Forest’s new-found status at the highest level of English football they have ever competed in. Of the eight games they have played so far, FGR have won two, drawn two and lost the rest. This record placed them in twentieth place in League One – enough (just) to make them safe if the competition had ended last Tuesday, when they earned a 1-1 draw at Charlton. In previous EFL meetings with Morecambe, Forest Green have a marginally better record having won three of seven League Two games (an eighth was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic) and lost two.
Morecambe, on the other hand, arrived at the New Lawn on the back of something of a crisis. Derek Adams’ team have yet to win this term in League One and with a paltry four points from eight games so far, languished next to the bottom of the table at the start of play. The Usual Suspects loudly suggest that Mr Adams should be sacked and drone on about negative football, weak personnel yada yada yada. They have very short memories. King Derek steered the club into League One in the first place. He has explained repeatedly that he is hamstrung by what is in a reality a very small budget by long-term deals offered by the former regime of Stephen Robinson to players who are now surplus to requirements. Derek’s career has been built on his ability to coach journeymen footballers and men not playing to their true potential into effective units. He did it last season with a team which would have been relegated for certain if Robbo hadn’t left the club in the lurch at the time he chose to do so. Derek may or may not be able to do so again this season with the players he has available to him. But – and this is the question the doubters conveniently overlook – who do they think could do a better job than the current Manager with the resources which are available to him? In my view, they could do with a reality check. It’s not nice as a supporter to see your favourite team repeatedly lose. But as a football fan – as in life itself – everybody needs to learn to take the rough with the smooth. If you can’t, the one certainty you can rely on is that life is going to be a major disappointment. Whingeing about it is not in any way constructive. Derek Adams is the best thing that has ever happened to Morecambe Football Club. In my view, we all need to look at things from the Manager’s point of view – and get behind both him and his players.
Derek didn’t shy away from the potential significance of today’s game before it happened:
“I think that when you do get promoted, you either go on a good run of results or it goes the opposite way for you. We just have to go there and put the onus on Forest Green. We’ll have more of the ball probably than we did on Tuesday. We’ll obviously get more chances as well because of the nature of the opposition. These are the teams we’ve got the best opportunity of beating. We’re not far away from getting those wins that will take us further up the league. The difficulty for us (is) we’re playing against technically good sides and we haven’t been able to get the better of them at this stage. There comes a time where that’ll turn because, as you can see, the quality is there. We’ve got some technically very good players in this division. Shaw has come in and played the last two games. Taylor and Weir in midfield have played very well for large aspects. All in all, I’m happy with the group we’ve got.”
The Boss started with the same line-up which played on Tuesday night. So did Forest Green. Their Head Coach Ian Burchnall had this to say prior to the match:
“It’s a different kind of game. (They are) a really competitive team. Derek Adams will have them extremely well organised. I know they are disciplined. They’re probably disappointed with their points return so far. But I think even against Sheffield Wednesday, they played a really good team and showed some good moments in that game where you know that they can be a threat. So I think we have to be really on our top game.”
It was sunny at times in Nailsworth with a cool breeze this afternoon. After the crowd paid its collective respects to the late Queen and then sang a truly dreadful version of `God Save The King’, the match began. Following a half-hearted appeal for a penalty by the home crowd in the opening minute, the ball found Morecambe Skipper Donald Love unmarked in the centre forward position and he produced a shot which home custodian Luke McGee did well to push away for a corner. It was Even Stevens for a while after that with the best chance falling to the Green Devils after ten minutes when Connor Wickham’s low cross evaded everyone in the middle and went out for a goal kick. Jensen Weir then took a pretty wild shot after some really good approach play by the visitors with a quarter of an hour on the clock. Oliver Casey then headed Corey O’Keefe’s corner narrowly wide two minutes later. At the other end, Weir came even closer with a fierce volley which only just missed the target after eighteen minutes. Within sixty seconds, Jake Taylor then played a fine pass to Kieran Phillips, who rounded McGee only to see his shot deflected against the home crossbar by Jordan Moore-Taylor among the massed ranks of home defence and bounce back into the keeper’s arms. Out of nowhere, though, FGR took the lead after half an hour when O’Keefe nudged the ball towards the experienced Wycombe, who chanced his arm with a shot–come-lob from the edge of the penalty area which looped over Connor Ripley into the top corner of the away goal. Myles Peart-Harris then came close again for the hosts with 37 minutes played; walloping a shot from distance which was only just off-target. Another blow for Morecambe arrived in the thirty-ninth minute when Liam Gibson hobbled off with an obvious problem. Liam Shaw then got it all wrong when well placed with a few minutes left to play and then Farrend Rawson drew a good save from McGee with a volley from close range in the forty-third minute . But just before the break, the impressive Phillips equalised for the Shrimps when he scored his second league goal with a lovely finish. His first attempt had been well saved by McGee but Kieran won the second ball and wove his way brilliantly through the Rovers’ defence to cleverly chip the ball over the home goalkeeper. So it ended all-square at half time – and deservedly so. With a little more luck, the visitors could have actually have been in the lead.
Morecambe started the second half on the front foot and Cole Stockton would have opened his account for the season had not McGee made a brilliant save from his powerful strike at the cost of a corner after 48 minutes. From this, FGR immediately counter-attacked via impressive Chelsea loanee Bryan Fiabema and then Wycombe, who drew an excellent stop from Ripley with another fierce shot. The visiting goalkeeper then did really well to tip a header from Dominic Bernard over his bar for another corner kick which Rawson headed away. This was after fifty-one minutes. Just before the hour, McGee was called into action at the other end as Jake Taylor set-up Phillips for another tremendous strike which the home stopper deflected away from danger with clenched fists. The game deteriorated into a pretty scrappy affair for a while after this with neither side making any clear-cut chances until injury time. Then, Weir took a tremendous free-kick and found Rawson at the far post to head joyfully home against his former club and earn Morecambe’s first three points of this season’s campaign.
Nobody could say they didn’t deserve it. To come from behind to win with a performance where they were always solid at the back but constantly a threat going forward too is a tribute mostly to the players but particularly the Manager for sticking with a line-up and a formation which he said prior to the game he had total confidence in.
Despite the win, the Shrimps still find themselves in the bottom four of League One this evening. They are still next to the bottom but find themselves only a single point behind today’s hosts this evening.
Derek Adams said about the victory:
“We obviously deserved it. It was a very good performance from us today. We dominated the game for large spells. It was a thoroughly professional performance here today from us: the way we kept the ball; the way we kept on pushing Forest Green back. We’re delighted for the players. We said to them today `Just go and enjoy the game’ because we know we are coming up against a team that’s going to be around about us in the league table. We’ve played against a team that’s going to be at the top of the league table and the differences are massive. In the end, we’ve got a team that have shown throughout the season how well they can play. And they’ve done that again today.”
Forest Green Rovers: 1 Luke McGee; 2 Corey O’Keeffe (Y); 3 Dominic Bernard (C); 5 Oliver Casey; 8 Regan Hendry (7 Ben Stevenson 80’); 15 Jordan Moore-Taylor; 18 Bryan Fiabema; 21 Connor Wickham (Y); 23 Christian Fernandes-Marques; 25 Myles Peart-Harris (29 Reece Brown 74’); 26 David Davis (10 Armani Little 61’).
Subs not used: 24 Lewis Thomas; 16 Jacob Jones; 17 Kyle McCallister; 27 Harvey Bunker.
Morecambe: 1 Connor Ripley; 2 Donald Love (C); 4 Liam Gibson (21 Ryan Cooney (Y) 39’); 5 Farrend Rawson; 6 Ryan Delaney; 7 Jake Taylor (13 Arthur Gnahoua 66’); 9 Cole Stockton (11 Dylan Connolly 83’); 15 Jensen Weir; 16 Jacob Bedeau; 20 Liam Shaw (8 Ousmane Fané 83’); 23 Kieran Phillips.
Subs not used: 12 Adam Smith; 18 Shane McLoughlin; 19 Jon Obika; 22Anthony O’Connor.
Ref: Ollie Yates.
Att: 2,601 (112 from Morecambe)
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