LEAGUE TWO. TUESDAY, 24th OCTOBER 2023.

Classy Morecambe Too Good for Toothless Tranmere. 

The last time Morecambe hosted Tranmere Rovers at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium was the unforgettable second leg of the League Two Play-Off Semi-Final on May 21^st 2021. Although the match ended one goal each, the Shrimps had already won the reverse fixture at Prenton Park; 1-2. The aggregate victory led to the Shrimps beating Newport County at Wembley to claim their place in League One for the first time ever.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then but this evening, the Shrimps were looking to close the gap between themselves and the current League Two Play-Off crop. Morecambe were just two points shy of the lowest of the Play-Off clubs – Accrington Stanley – with games in hand over all the teams above them as they lay in tenth place in the table.

Tranmere, on the other hand, arrived in north Lancashire on the back of a mini-crisis. They found themselves just fourth from bottom of the EFL on the same number of points – ten – as Forest Green and Colchester, who were directly below them. After six straight defeats, Ian Dawes was sacked as Manager last month and was replaced in the Hot Seat by the then Director of Football and former Rovers goalkeeper Nigel Adkins. Birkenhead native Nigel is famous for his performance at Scunthorpe United several years ago. As a qualified Physiotherapist, he took the Iron from League One to the Championship in 2007. Then he left shortly afterwards. (Where are poor old Scunny now? – yes, they’re fifth in the National League North.) Next, he took Southampton from League One to the Championship in 2010 and then up to the Premiership the very next year.

His career has taken a largely downward spiral since those heady times but Nigel Adkins is a thoughtful chap. He claims to regularly recite a particular poem to keep himself on the straight and narrow. This poem was penned by the American Dale Wimbrow and is entitled The Guy in the Glass. Here’s a fragment of it:

It isn’t your Father, or Mother, or Wife,

Who judgement upon you must pass.

The feller whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the guy staring back from the glass.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,

And get pats on the back as you pass,

But your final reward will be heartaches and tears

If you’ve cheated the guy in the glass.

Almost as profound as Michael Jackson’s song of virtually the same title, don’t you think?  But has Mr Adkins’ performance as Manager at Tranmere had a profound impact on the club’s fortunes? Since replacing Ian Dawes, Nigel Adkins has seen Rovers play seven league games. They have drawn one of them; won two but lost four, most recently at home against Doncaster 1-2 last Friday night. In previous meetings with Morecambe in all competitions, the club from the Wirral actually hold the upper hand: five wins out of ten and just three defeats. I’ve been unable to find any Words of Wisdom from The Guy in the Glass (Guy in the Glasses, if you prefer) before the game. But I have found this quote from straight after the defeat against Doncaster:

““It hurts. I should’ve made a change after 15 minutes. We’ve got to reflect on it. It’s not nice losing. The first person you look at is yourself.” 

In the mirror, presumably… Whatever, Morecambe went into this match on the back of two wins and two defeats in their last five league outings. They started this evening’s contest on the back of their third win on the road away from home; this time 2-3 at Sutton United three days ago. These were boss Derek Adams’ thoughts prior to tonight’s fixture:

“I’ve watched Tranmere quite a bit. They are a very good side going forward. I see the patterns of play that they have. I see them playing mostly with one sitter; two attacking central midfield players. They keep their width. They want to get players in the box. They want to get a switch of play. They are all the things that you would look (at) and think they should be higher up the league. There’s no doubt about that: they’ve got a lot of talented players in that squad.”

There was a doubt, though, about Farrend Rawson before the game due to a cut close to his eye which forced him to leave the field at Gander Green Lane last Saturday. He wasn’t in the squad tonight. Goalkeeper Stuart Moore was also injured at the end of the first half against Sutton. He was replaced by Adam Smith for the second half in Surrey and Adam – who his Manager reminded us all was once Player of the Year at Northampton – retained his place in the side this evening. Junior Scholar George Pedley was promoted to sit on the bench tonight as reserve goalkeeper.

It had been wet overnight and occasionally drizzly during the day in north Lancashire today. But the match started and ended under dry skies, the surface of the grass becoming noticeably wetter as the night drew on and dew started to settle.

There was a minute’s applause before kick-off to remember Manchester United and England legend – and the man who once opened the greatly missed North Stand at Christie Park – Sir Bobby Charlton. Then the match started.

The visitors in the white strip played all the football for the first ten minutes, noisily encouraged by their gaggle of fans at the away end. They looked slick, well-drilled and fairly confident and won at least a couple of corners, from one of which Harvey Saunders headed narrowly wide of the target. But the problem Tranmere had all evening – and presumably have had all season so far – is no cutting edge. Morecambe Captain Donald Love was booked early on but had to leave the pitch with a nasty cut which needed eight stitches after just ten minutes. With Chris Stokes on in his place and Jacob Bedeau taking on the role of Skipper, Jordan Slew had the first attempt for the hosts: a header from a cross by Tom Bloxham after thirteen minutes. With the visitors still dominating possession, Regan Henry made a good run forward for Tranmere and found Kieron Morris who forced a routine save from Adam Smith in the home goal with almost twenty minutes on the clock. Just after that, Connor Wood fouled Yann Songo’o in a good position from Morecambe’s point of view. But leading scorer Michael Mellon wasted the free kick just to the left of the target from his point of view with a shot which went both way too high and wide. Bedeau did well to clear a dangerous low cross into the area by Rovers’ Harvey Saunders after twenty-seven minutes. But the Shrimps raced up the other end of the field in the shape of Bloxham on the Morecambe right; beat his man (as he continued to do most of the evening) and found JJ McKiernan in the box only for JJ to be denied by one of several good saves by Luke McGee tonight. The goalkeeper made an even better save from the same player just before the break but an entertaining game ended goalless at half time. Tranmere had dominated earlier on but Morecambe had steadily worked themselves into the game and actually created the clearer chances.

Tranmere – with Dan Pike replacing Wood at Half Time – continued to play some constructive, progressive football once the game re-started. But Morecambe had the first chance of the game when Mellon again took a free-kick after 48 minutes which McGee gathered without any trouble.  Then Slew – who had another excellent game tonight – had a pop at goal after 55 minutes which was deflected for a corner. From another corner at the other end, Saunders headed straight into Smith’s gloves with 65 minutes played. For a while after this, Morecambe started to apply concerted pressure on the visitors and forced a succession of corner kicks. Tranmere survived these and actually had the next good chance of the game when substitute Rob Apter forced a decent low save from the home stopper after 71 minutes. Immediately though, the home team were back on the attack. Chris Stokes played a dangerous cross-cum-shot right into the danger area which provoked a literally unstoppable header past McGee into the Tranmere net. Sadly for him, the man responsible for this was visiting defender Jordan Turnbull, who was desperately trying to head the ball away to safety The Shrimps would have gone further ahead just ten minutes later if it wasn’t for a remarkable reflex save by McGee from a flick from Bloxham who was virtually right in front of him. On 86 minutes, the visiting goalkeeper made another excellent save as he denied Mellon, who had been set-up with a fine pass from Bedeau. Then he made another tremendous stop to his left as Bloxham bore down on him from the Morecambe right. But Tranmere didn’t give up. The nearest they came to equalising was late in injury time, when Apter was denied by a brilliant stop from the very impressive Smith only for Connor Jennings to wallop the rebound against the woodwork and away into the night.

So it ended with a hard-fought victory for Morecambe. If Tranmere knew how to finish, they might not have had things quite so easy. I think the real difference between the sides was that Morecambe managed to convert their excellent approach play into chances whereas – more often than not – Tranmere couldn’t. They look far too good to be relegated but their latest defeat leaves them right in the mire at the bottom of the Football League. Barrow won 0-2 at Forest Green tonight and Sutton lost yet again, 2-1 at Wrexham this time. If they hadn’t, Rovers would find themselves in the relegation positions now. Morecambe, on the other hand, moved up the table to the fringe of the Play-Offs: eighth. But they still have two games in hand on all but one of the clubs above them. What did Derek Adams make of it all?:

“Tranmere are a very good side – one of the best teams in this league – (or) they should be. Tonight, we have been able to get the better of them. Overall, I thought that the character, the team work ethic; the opportunities that we created – we deserved to win the game by a greater margin. I thought that their goalkeeper was outstanding – two unbelievable saves he made in the ninety minutes: he kept them in the match.”

So Derek can look in the mirror tonight and wonder to himself:

“What’s more important? – the Guy in the Glass… or the Guy with the Class?”

Morecambe: 21 Adam Smith; 2 Donald Love (C)(Y) (15 Chris Stokes 10’); 3 David Tutonda (23 Max Melborne 63’); 4 Jacob Bedeau (Y); 6 Yann Songo’o; 7 Tom Bloxham; 9 Michael Mellon; 10 JJ McKiernan; 11 Adam Mayor (Y); 12 Joel Senior; 14 Jordan Slew (16 Jacob Davenport 73’).

Substitutes not used: 26 George Pedley;17 Cammy Smith; 19 Ethan Walker; 20 Charlie Brown.

Tranmere Rovers: 1 Luke McGee; 2 Lee O’Connor; 4 Brad Walker (22 Paul Lewis 57’); 5 Tom Davies (C); 6 Jordan Turnbull; 7 Kieron Morris (25 Rob Apter 57’); 8 Regan Henry (Y); 14 Kristian Dennis (12 Charlie Jolley 83’); 18 Connor Jennings (Y); 19 Harvey Saunders (11 Josh Hawkes 78’); 27 Connor Wood (24 Dan Pike 45’).

Substitutes not used: 13 Joe Murphy; 21 Josef Yarney.

Ref: Paul Howard.

Att: 3,676 (527 from Tranmere.)