LEAGUE TWO. SATURDAY, 12th AUGUST 2023.

Morecambe Murdered at Mansfield

Before we go any further, here’s a quick update on Morecambe’s latest permanent signing. Although he wasn’t eligible to play today, 27-year-old defender David Tutonda has joined the Shrimps on a twelve month contract. The Congolese-born player has featured at clubs such as Cardiff City; Bristol Rovers and Gillingham, whose offer of a new contract he declined at the end of last season.

David would have been on the bus as the Shrimps set off for Nottinghamshire to face Nigel Clough’s Mansfield Town today. The Stags started the season with a 2-2 draw away at Crewe. They were winning by two goals to nil at one point but the sending-off of defender Calum MacDonald after an hour saw them lose their advantage by the end of the match. In midweek, though, they overcame League Two rivals Grimsby Town in the League Cup by two goals to nil at today’s venue. They started the game at Field Mill today in tenth position in the division.

Morecambe arrived in sixth place. They won against Walsall in the league 2-1 last Saturday but fell at Rotherham 4-2 on penalties last Tuesday after going ahead against the Championship side early on in the game.

The two clubs have met nineteen times before – all in League Two (a further game was cancelled due to Covid.) The Shrimps have won six of these ties but lost ten.

As far as today’s opponents are concerned, Morecambe Manager Derek Adams said:

“We’re looking forward to it. We know how well they’ve done over the last three seasons. They are trying to get out of this division. They were unfortunate not to get through the playoffs in the season gone by but for us, it’s about getting another strong performance this weekend.”

Asked if he was trying to `lay down a marker’ at Mansfield, he outlined his own philosophy for this term:

“We’re always trying to lay down markers for our own purpose, it doesn’t matter about the opposition or where we are. We want to look after ourselves. It’s important (that) as a football club, we understand the ethos of the football club; we understand where the football club is at this moment in time and then punch above our weight. That’s what we try to do season on season, we’ve been very successful at it and the players give their all, they work extremely hard in training. They’ve got a willingness to take information on well and perform to a high standard.”

The weather had been changeable in Nottinghamshire prior to the game: sunny one moment; tipping it down the next. But the game started in strong sunshine and – even as rain clouds swept across the valley to the south of the stadium at one point – it continued more or less dry throughout. 

The match was also more or less even early on but soon developed into a recognisable pattern: the home team attacked; the away team attempted to soak-up the pressure and hit back on the break. Morecambe actually had the first half-chance of the match: Tom Bloxham volleyed a poor clearing header from Callum Johnson over the target with eight minutes played. Six minutes later, though, the Stags’ player redeemed himself with an excellent cross which Lucas Akins headed wide when he might have done better. It was the first of several let-offs for the Shrimps this afternoon. In the eighteenth minute, former Shrimp Rhys Oates also missed the target with a long-range shot as the home side began to dominate the game. Louis Reed then tried his luck a few minutes later but his attempt was again wayward. The game continued in this manner with Mansfield asking nearly all the questions and Morecambe providing virtually nothing going forwards. It was alarming to see the way they started regularly just blindly hoofing the ball up-field to clear their lines only to see another wave of yellow-clad attacks immediately begin again.  The visitors had a couple of scares and goalkeeper Stuart Moore did brilliantly to keep-out an effort from Akins with just over half an hour played – the Stags’ forward wasted a second glorious chance on the rebound by missing the goal altogether. As Stuart’s Opposite Number – Christie Pym – had nothing to do at the other end, the home team continued to ask all the questions. I was personally hoping that the Shrimps would hold-out until half time, when King Derek might be able to work his magic on them – but it wasn’t to be. In the forty-sixth minute, they conceded a free-kick on their right. Stephen Quinn took it quickly; Davis Keillor-Dunn flicked it on with his head and Akins atoned for his earlier miss with an emphatic unmarked header which gave Moore no chance at all.

There was never even a glimmer of hope of a revival in the second half for the visiting team: it continued to be all Mansfield. Keillor-Dunn scored again with just over an hour played. This followed a needless mistake by the away defence as Donald Love actually set the scorer up with a poor pass which the Mansfield player intercepted. This was one of several mistakes by the Morecambe Skipper this afternoon and he was taken-off during the second half – but he was far from alone in putting in a weak display today. The away stopper made another really good save from Oates in the sixty-sixth minute – and the chances continued to come for the home side. Morecambe were all at sea again with three minutes scheduled to play. Oates was brought-down in the penalty area by a clumsy challenge by a way under par Jacob Bedeau; Akins took the penalty and scored as Stuart Moore dived in the wrong direction. So that was it: three-nil: and it could have been more.

Morecambe were soundly beaten today. Lady Luck and a phenomenal save by their goalkeeper kept them in the game during the first half until literally the last moment, when poor defending undid all their previous good work. In the second half, though, it was just an exercise in survival: at no time did the Shrimps even start to look like getting back on terms, let alone turn the game around. With the exception of their goalkeeper, they were second best right across the pitch to a team which looked at best functional rather than spectacular. It was a continuation of Morecambe’s appalling away form from last season – except in a lower division, which is quite worrying in itself. Some of our number showed their disapproval of what they were watching by loudly yelling at our own players and the Manager today – which surely doesn’t help anybody. I personally felt sorry for Jordan Slew, who was singled-out for abuse this afternoon for reasons I can only guess at: I thought he was our best forward by far once he entered the fray – and he came closest to scoring with a header which, on another day, would have gone in. What must that kind of reaction from his own so-called supporters do for his confidence and commitment to the cause?

The first league defeat of the season saw Morecambe drop to fourteenth place in the table. Mansfield, meanwhile, ended the day ten places higher. This gap hardly adequately reflects the gulf between the two sides, however,

All in all, though, this was a thoroughly chastening display which makes you worry about the future for both the team and the club. There will have to be an almost miraculous improvement in the game on Tuesday night at home if this is not going to be another long season battling against the drop.  Elsewhere, Old Boy Connor Ripley saved a penalty for Port Vale in League One. In League Two, Daniel Crowley – almost certainly the smallest player on the field – scored a spectacular winner for Notts County with a diving header against Grimsby. With no disrespect intended to their successors at our club, it makes you wonder how things might have been had Derek Adams been backed with even a small amount of money by the current owner of Morecambe FC and been able to keep key players like these two on the books this term. The man himself said after the game:

“I thought it was difficult for us this afternoon. We came up against a very good side in Mansfield, They are vastly experienced; they’ve been going a few years to get themselves out of this division: you could see that by their play. We had the two up-front who we couldn’t get the ball to – that became difficult for us. In the end, they deserved to win the match – there’s no doubt about it – because of the quality they have.”

Mansfield Town: 1 Christy Pym; 2 Callum Johnson; 5 Alfie Kilgour (C); 6 Baily Cargill (Y) (9 Jordan Bowery 65’); 7 Lucas Akins; 14 Aden Flint; 15 Aaron Lewis (Y) (8 Ollie O’Clarke 88’); 16 Stephen Quinn (44 Hiram Boateng 65’); 18 Rhys Oates (28 McKeal Abdullah 88’); 25 Louis Reed (17 Anthony Hartigan 88’); 40 Davis Keillor-Dunn.

Substitutes not used: 13 Scott Flinders; 10 George Maris; 12 James Gale; 19 George Cooper.

Morecambe: 1 Stuart Moore; 2 Donald Love (C) (Y) (16 Jacob Davenport 70’); 4 Jacob Bedeau; 5 Farrend Rawson; 6 Yann Songo’o; 7 Tom Bloxham (14 Jordan Slew 70’); 8 Eli King; 9 Michael Mellon (17 Cammy Smith 85’); 10 JJ McKiernan (Y) (18 Jake Taylor; 60’); 11 Adam Mayor (23 Max Melbourne 60’); 12 Joel Senior.

Substitutes not used: 21 Adam Smith; 15 Chris Stokes; 20 Charlie Brown; 24 Cameron Rooney.

Ref: The truly excellent Scott Simpson.

Att: 6,695 (196 from Morecambe). Here are some of them: