LEAGUE ONE. SATURDAY, 25th FEBRUARY 2023.

Cods Bite – Shrimps don’t…

Morecambe have played various incarnations of Fleetwood Town millions – nay, billions – of times over the years in leagues such as the Lancashire Combination and the Northern Premier for instance. Since they have both become EFL clubs, though, they have met fourteen times in Football League and Johnstones Paint Trophy competitions. The Shrimps have won just three of these; the Cod Army four. In their three previous meetings in League One, Fleetwood came from behind to draw 1-1 at the Mazuma Stadium last August after a goal-less draw at the same venue last season. Then they lost 1-2 at Highbury to a wonder goal by Cole Stockton right at the end of the reverse fixture last November.

Morecambe travelled the short distance southwards along the Irish Sea coast today to renew an acquaintance with a team which won 1-0 at home against Cambridge United last Tuesday night. This win put them into lucky thirteenth position in the table. In their last five League One matches, Scott Brown’s team has lost only once but have won three and drawn one of their last four fixtures. Derek Adams’ men, on the other hand, have an exactly opposite record: only winning one of their last five league games and losing three of them. Their victory over Port Vale at home last Tuesday propelled them out of the relegation zone but their parlous position out of the mire could change with another loss – and potentially even a draw – this afternoon.

After the win against Port Vale at the Maz last Tuesday, Derek Adams had this to say about Fleetwood:

“We know what they’re about. We’ll have to rest and get ready for the game because it will be high tempo.  I watched them against Sheffield Wednesday and they should have been four-nil up that night early in the game. They are very energetic and have done well this season.”

Since then, he has added:

“It will create a very good atmosphere. It’s a tight ground like our own and the atmosphere -when it’s packed – is very good. We’ve got a huge support with us – we’ve sold out our allocation. We look forward to the game. The supporters were very vocal the other night and that really does help the players.  It’s going to be a frantic game because we understand the way that Fleetwood start their games: it’s a hundred mile an hour. So we will have to be ready for that.”

Opposite Number and former Celtic Skipper Scott Brown had this to say about a man who once wore the red of Aberdeen as an opponent on the pitch not so very long ago:

“Derek has done a very good job at Morecambe and has made them very hard to beat. They’ve jumped into a couple of different formations recently, so we just need to wait to see how they play. In the last few games, they’ve had more possession of the ball and have some very good lads in the middle of the park who can get on the ball and play. Everybody knows how good of a player is Cole Stockton. He came off the other day so we aren’t sure if he’s going to be available, but we will wait and see how they shape up and go from there. Derek is a great person and spoke really well after the game when I went to speak to him last time we met, and that’s what us Scottish lads do. It’s like the Goalkeepers’ Union, we just stick together.”

As far as the match itself is concerned, he added:

“It will be a good derby. Everybody in the town and the players are looking forward to it because we all know how important the game is. For us, we need to make sure we are organised, we are setup and rested. It will be a chilled day and we need to make sure we are on our A game.”

With Cole Stockton unavailable because of an injury which saw him leave the field early last Tuesday, Arthur Gnahoua was again named in the starting line-up for the Shrimps this afternoon. Leading the line for the Shrimps, though, was young Burnley loanee Michael Mellon. In doing so, he would have been back on familiar territory –  his father Mickey managed Fleetwood not all that long ago.

So far as the opponents were concerned, all away fans would be hoping that former hero Carlos Mendes-Gomes would have a quiet game today.

The day had been quite cold with grey skies above prior to kick-off and this hadn’t changed by the time three o’clock arrived.

Morecambe opened brightly enough and had the first attempt on goal – Jensen Weir’s shot from a long way out went over the bar after five minutes. With Arthur Gnahoua getting the better of Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu early doors, Derek Adams made his feelings known to the Cod Army man after he had craftily shoved Arthur into the advertising hoardings after eight minutes but wasn’t penalised for doing so.

With their first decent move of the game, however, the hosts scored. Carlos Mendes-Gomes came back to haunt his former employers when he tapped home a cross from Shaun Rooney out on the right wing to put Fleetwood ahead far too easily from close range.

In response, Uncle Arthur then passed the ball to Daniel Crowley on the left after 21 minutes. Morecambe’s diminutive midfielder took the ball down the wing before floating over a lovely cross which Michael Mellon headed against the crossbar with home keeper Jay Lynch beaten.

The visitors continued to press and won a couple of corners by the twenty-fifth minute.

Carlos had missed for the hosts with a wayward shot after 22 minutes and visiting Skipper Donald Love also missed from the Morecambe right seven minutes later with another shot which had come a bit closer.

With the Shrimps continuing to ask most of the questions, Fleetwood may have felt aggrieved with forty minutes on the clock when Rooney took a shot which may have hit Farrend Rawson’s arm on the away goal-line to keep it out. Referee Andy Davies wasn’t impressed though so the score stayed just as it had been.

So Morecambe went back to the Dressing Rooms in arrears. They had played quite well, though and must have had high hopes for the second period. With results elsewhere going their way, they were still out of the relegation zone too – albeit by a goal-difference of just one.

Fleetwood had the first chance of the second half with five minutes played. Connor Ripley made a good low save at the cost of a corner after Carlos’ substitute Scott Robertson fed Rooney for a decent shot as the home team played on the counter-attack. Morecambe won another corner as Arthur combined brilliantly with Crowley and then Adam Mayor who cut the ball back to Weir after 57 minutes. His shot was brilliantly deflected away from goal by a tremendous block by Harrison Holgate.

At the other end, Harvey Macadam left Jacob Bedeau for dead and ran quite some distance before attempting – and failing – to lob the away goalkeeper just two minutes later. Ash Hunter replaced Mellon after almost an hour to face his former club as Arthur was pushed into the centre forward position to take Michael’s place. Ash forced a save from Lynch almost immediately as the home goalkeeper managed to dive low to his right to hold onto his shot from some distance. King Derek shook things up a little bit more by bringing Jake Taylor on for the last quarter of an hour but the changes didn’t reverse the visitors’ main problem this afternoon – actually finishing the decent approach play they constructed at times as well as the chances they were occasionally creating.

Macadam walloped a poor shot wide for the hosts after 59 minutes. Then Jayden Stockley missed shortly afterwards from close–in but was flagged for off-side anyway. Down the other end, Mayor’s cross seemed to be blocked by Rooney’s arm in the final few minutes as he turned his back but the Ref again wasn’t impressed. As the hosts were guilty of committing a few poor tackles in the dying embers of the game, Morecambe won a couple of free-kicks and two corners as well. But none of these resulted in home custodian Lynch being forced into action and the truth is that the game petered-out into another very disappointing loss.  

The hosts could have rubbed salt into the wounds when Rooney was denied by poor decision-making and another good save by Ripley in the last minute of injury time but the Cods did just enough to win it this afternoon.

So Fleetwood completed a run of six games unbeaten. The win pushed them up to eleventh place in League One. Despite losing yet another three points away from home, Morecambe were still just out of the relegation positions at the end of the match. This is because elsewhere, Burton and Accrington couldn’t manage a goal between them at the Pirelli. FGR drew at home 1-1 against Lincoln City but remained marooned at the bottom of the division, nine points adrift Morecambe with one more game played. Cambridge lost 2-0 at Exeter and the MK frauds lost at home again, this time 0-1 to Ipswich.

If only the season ended tonight…

Characteristically though, Derek Adams looked for the positives he could identify in today’s display. He said:

“We lost a goal though our own fault – we make probably three mistakes in it which could have been dealt with a lot better. That was their first attack in the game. We had dominated the game from there but it’s about taking chances and that’s what they’ve done better today.  I would have thought that we deserved a draw in the game – we had really good moments in the match.”

Fleetwood Town: 13 Jay Lynch; 4 Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu (3 Danny Andrew (Y) 45’); 7 Carlos Mendes-Gomes (10 Scott Robertson 45’); 8 Josh Vela (C); 9 Jayden Stockley (14 Jack Marriot 85’); 16 Lewis Warrington;18 Harrison Holgate; 22 Aristote Nsiala; 23 Phoenix Patterson (21 Cian Hayes (Y) 68’); 26 Shaun Rooney; 27 Harvey Macadam.

Subs not used:  50 Stephen McMullan; 17 Callum Dolan; 32 Joshua Earl.

Morecambe: 1 Connor Ripley; 2 Donald Love (C) (Y); 4 Liam Gibson (3 Max Melbourne (Y) 59’); 5 Farrend Rawson; 8 Daniel Crowley; 11 Michael Mellon (10 Ash Hunter 59’); 14 Arthur Gnahoua; 15 Jensen Weir (Y) (29 Dynel Simeu 85’); 16 Jacob Bedeau (7 Jake Taylor 74’); 20 Liam Shaw (Y); 25 Adam Mayor.

Subs not used: 12 Adam Smith; 21 Ryan Cooney; 22 Josh Austerfield.

Ref: Andy Davies.

Att: 4,550 (1100 from Morecambe.)