LEAGUE TWO. SATURDAY 28th OCTOBER 2023.

Hats Off to Michael Mellon – Again…

Wimbledon visited the Mazuma Mobile Stadium this afternoon looking to improve their recent slump in form. The club which once had its identity stolen lock, stock and barrel by so-called MK Dons have not won for four matches and have drawn two of their last three. Early season promise has given way to a slide down the table from the Play-Off positions to tenth place; two positions and two points worse-off than today’s hosts and with two more games played.  Last time out on Tuesday night, they were 0-3 down at home to Accrington Stanley before fighting back to 2-3 but finally losing by two goals to four.  However, the real Dons have yet to lose away from home this season, whereas Morecambe have still to be beaten at Fortress Maz. So something would probably have to give this afternoon.

In previous meetings between the two clubs, the record could not be more even: twelve games played; four won by both clubs. The last time they met at this venue – in League One two years ago – Morecambe lost 3-4 right at the death, despite a wonder goal from Cole Stockton on the day. Wombles’ Manager Johnnie Jackson spoke to the club’s website earlier in the week and first of all analysed what went wrong against Accrington last Tuesday:

“We didn’t do the things in those first 45 minutes that have been bringing us success for big parts of the season. We came away from our levels; we came away from what we’ve been doing well for whatever reason and we threw in a bad first half. Coming in after the game, having had the response in the second half, it gave us all the belief that the first half was an anomaly. I said to the lads that the good thing is you’ve got another game in a few days. I told them – before you know it we’re going to be on the train going to Morecambe and you’ve got the opportunity to put it right as soon as possible. That’s the beauty of football, sometimes you have no time to dwell. We’ve looked at it, addressed it and they’re desperate to get back out there. We’ll watch training on Wednesday and today and we’ll make some tough decisions. Obviously off the back of certain results you do look at things and different ways of going about it. We have to look at what’s available to us and how we came out of that the other night. Who do we feel is going to be best suited to start the game at Morecambe? Not only that but the five from seven substitutes that are going to help us get the result we need. Morecambe are a tough side and it’s a tough place to go. They’re on a decent run of form but our away form has been really strong. We’ve got lads who are desperate to play, to put things right, and are also in a positive frame of mind when it comes to attacking these away games. We’ll go up there with full confidence that we can go and get a result, knowing – as always – we’re up against opposition that can cause us problems. However, we can do that ourselves, as we’ve shown time and time again.”

Prior to the game, Opposite Number Derek Adams was more concerned about a shortage of players to choose from to produce a competitive team for this match. With only twenty-two men in his first team squad to start off with, the boss had only a maximum of seventeen from whom to construct a side to face the Dons today. James Connolly, Jacob Bedeau and Adam Mayor would all be suspended and Derek told an interviewer on Friday that Stuart Moore – facing an operation next week to re-attach a snapped tendon – would be joining Jake Taylor on the injured list indefinitely and thus would take no part in today’s match either. Captain Donald Love was also doubtful due to the stitches he has in his foot after Tuesday’s fixture with Tranmere.  King Derek added:

“Wimbledon are a side that have done well this season in this league; another team that are trying to get out of it back into League One. But we are at home (and) have a very good record. As an old Chairman of mine used to say, down at Plymouth: “You only need eleven players on the pitch.” We have got eleven players; we have got eleven players that are more than capable of performing well.”

It had been a mixed bag as far as the weather in north Lancashire was concerned today: sunny one moment; dark and wet the next but always with a keen, cool breeze from the east.

The match started in thin drizzle following a rendition of The Last Post and an impeccably-respected two-minute silence in member of British servicemen killed and injured in various wars during recent times.

Morecambe started brightly and dominated the play for the opening few minutes. The pattern was soon set: the Dons were happy to play on the break, constantly trying to get particularly Ali Al Hamadi and Josh Neufville in behind the home defence with passes from midfield. Morecambe’s first chance of the afternoon fell to Jacob Davenport who, perfectly set-up by the impressive Jordan Slew, shot over the bar after five minutes. With ten minutes played, Tom Bloxham’s impressive run forward was stopped by a strategic foul by Armani Little at the cost of a free-kick which came to nothing. Two minutes later, Slew himself met a long throw from Joel Senior on the Shrimps’ right at the far post but the away defence managed to scramble the ball away. With a quarter of an hour played, though, Al Hamadi played a dangerous cross right across the home penalty area which needed the merest touch for a goal to the visitors. But – possibly to sum-up Wimbledon’s entire afternoon – there was no-one there in a dark blue shirt to convert the chance. By this time, the Dons had played themselves well and truly into the game and were beginning to ask serious questions of Morecambe’s makeshift defence. They completely wasted a free-kick in a promising position after 28 minutes and had the best chance yet two minutes later as Joe Lewis rose higher than anyone else but headed James Tilley’s cross from another corner over the bar. They came closer still ten minutes later when Joel Senior performed miracles to somehow-or-other block Al-Hamadi’s seemingly goal-bound shot off the line with keeper Adam Smith beaten after he had done really well to parry a fierce shot from Tilley. That was as close as either team came during the first half. Morecambe had started the better of the two teams but Wimbledon had gradually taken control and created the better chances of the two teams. So who could possibly imagine the way the game would change in the second half?

Straight from kick-off, Morecambe went ahead. Jordan Slew was again instrumental as he threaded a ball through for leading scorer Michael Mellon to run onto. It was a race between Wombles’ stopper Alex Bass and himself as to who reached it first. Bass seemed favourite as he ran from his line but Michael brilliantly slipped the ball around him, followed it up and slid it slowly over the away goal-line for a tremendous opener. From kick-off, the Dons almost drew level immediately but danger man Al Hamadi’s fierce low shot was just wide of Smith’s left-hand goalpost. Five minutes later, the Shrimps were two-up. The men in the red strip were attacking again and there was a shout for a penalty as Joel Senior appeared to be fouled just inside the penalty area; the ball ran loose; visiting goalkeeper Bass panicked and hoofed the ball against helpless team-mate Lewis from whom it cannoned back into his own net.  At this point – with their goalkeeper at fault for both goals so far – the Wimbledon rearguard looked completely disorganised and it was little surprise when they conceded again after 58 minutes. Bass had already managed to keep out a shot from JJ after he had been set-up by strike partner Mellon with fifty-five minutes on the clock. Just after that, Omar Bugiel was very lucky to get away with only a yellow card after a really bad foul on Yann Songo’o on Morecambe’s left-hand touchline. Almost immediately, he conceded an obvious penalty with another crude challenge on McKiernan. He was a very luck boy not to have been sent off at this point but clearly very lenient Referee Ed Duckworth just gave him a lecture instead before Mellon buried the spot-kick with ease.

But Wimbledon – to their considerable credit – refused to let their heads drop. It would appear that one of their supporters let the side down by throwing something from the main stand which actually struck a Morecambe player. This enraged King Derek so much that he was booked for continuing to protest about what had happened. But Al Hamadi was denied again by committed blocks by the Shrimps’ defence as Johnnie Jackson shook things up with a number of changes. These paid-off when Little pulled a goal back with a good shot from outside the penalty area on the visitor’s left which swerved round Smith after 72 minutes. After this, Morecambe rode their luck as they attempted to defend their lead and started to look vulnerable for quite some time. But the closest the visitors came was in the eighty-fourth minute, when substitute Connor Lemonheigh-Evans’ header from Tilley’s corner was well saved by the home goalkeeper. Four minutes later, Morecambe broke away again. Slew once again took a long ball well on the Shrimps’ left, dummied a defender and played a killer pass through to substitute Max Melbourne, whose initial effort was saved by Bass only for Mellon to bury the rebound high into the net. After this, the visitors’ heads did seem to finally drop and despite no less than ten minutes of extra time, they were unable to reduce the arrears any further.

So Wimbledon lost their unbeaten league record away from home this afternoon as Michael Mellon gained another match ball. The Dons played some nice football at times today and the main thing the score reflects in my humble opinion is the Shrimps’ potency in front of goal as opposed to the visitors’ profligacy. I think most football supporters have a soft spot for Wimbledon if only because of the Milton Keynes scandal and the determined way they have fought back against all odds to re-establish themselves as a Football League club playing at a new stadium on Plough Lane. I personally wish them well for the rest of the season – except when the Shrimps visit next February. Tonight, though, they slipped to tenth in the League Two table.

But what can you say about Morecambe? Wow – just wow! They are now sixth in the standings, even with a scratch team. The so-called “Experts'” perennial favourites for relegation can now be found in the League Two Play-Off positions and have games in hand over all the clubs above them. I don’t know what else to say about it really. So let’s hear from someone who has forgotten more about football than I’ll ever know and what he thought about it. This was Derek Adams’ verdict after the match:

“I thought in the first half we actually played well. We played to our shape very well. We controlled large aspects of the first half without really getting many opportunities on goal. It was just about stepping it up in the second half and we did that quite quickly. Michael getting that goal so quickly after the second half started gave us that impetus to go forward. Then we quite quickly got the next one and the confidence was riding high then. It was just a very good performance. We had to defend long, high balls. It was similar to the Sutton game because that’s the way that Wimbledon and Sutton play and I thought we competed very well. It was a great atmosphere and that’s credit to the players. They feed off that.”

Morecambe: 21 Adam Smith; 3 David Tutonda (Y); 5 Farrend Rawson; 6 Yann Songo’o; 7 Tom Bloxham; 9 Michael Mellon (19 Ethan Walker 96’); 10 JJ McKiernan (20 Charlie Brown 98’); 12 Joel Senior; 14 Jordan Slew; 15 Chris Stokes (23 Max Melbourne 83’); 16 Jacob Davenport (17 Cammy Smith 98’).

Substitutes not used: 25 Lennon Dobson; 26 George Pedley.

Wimbledon: 12 Alex Bass; 4 Jake Reeves (C); 6 Ryan Johnson; 7 James Tilley; 10 Ali Al Hamadi; 11 Josh Neufville (19 Connor Lemonheigh-Evans 74’); 14 Armani Little; 18 Omar Bugiel (Y) (9 Josh Davison 62’) ;31 Joe Lewis; 26 Jack Currie; 33 Isaac Olundere (2 Huseyin Biler 63’).

Substitutes not used: 1Nikola Tzanev;; 15 Alex Pearce; 16 James Ball; 29 Aron Sasu.

Ref: Ed Duckworth

Att: 4,453 (356 from Wimbledon.)