LEAGUE TWO. SATURDAY, 7th SEPTEMBER 2024.

Doh! – Crewe gifted a win by a Simpson.

Before we concentrate on today’s game at Crewe, it must be acknowledged that what could prove to be a really significant fixture was played in the EFL Trophy Northern Group C last Tuesday night at Wigan. There was welcome relief for Derek Adams and Morecambe because – for the first time in any competition this season – Morecambe not only actually got the ball in the net and had it count but also won the game into the bargain. Harvey Macadam opened the scoring for the Shrimps after twelve minutes when he started the move in his own half, passed the ball to Ben Tollitt on the right and was then in the right place at the right time as Ben returned the favour with a perfect cross into the middle. Wigan Athletic substitute Joe Hugill made the game level from the penalty spot with 63 minutes gone following Adam Lewis’ foul. But just two minutes later, Lee Ingol scored Morecambe’s second goal of the campaign with a smart opportunist strike after a Latics defender had slipped and basically presented him with the ball. This was Morecambe’s line-up on the night:

1 Harry Burgoyne; 3 Adam Lewis (23 David Tutonda 78’); 5 Max Taylor; 6 Jamie Stott (C); 8 Harvey Macadam (Y) 2 Luke Hendrie (83’); 10 Lee Angol (Y) (9 Hallam Hope 78’); 11 Jordan Slew; 12 Kayden Harrack; 17 Paul Lewis (28 Callum Jones 78’); 18 Ben Tollitt (Y); 22 Ross Millen.

Recently disastrous goalkeeper Stuart Moore, rising Academy star Adam Fairclough and injury-hit Charlie Brown were the unused substitutes. King Derek said this about the victory after the game:

“I thought it was a magnificent performance from the players. To make eight changes tonight from Saturday’s team just shows how strong a squad we’ve got and I said that after Saturday’s game against Newport. We’ve got a very good squad here. They have to keep on believing in themselves and they certainly did that tonight. From that point of view – and coming to a League One outfit – and performing so well; it was really pleasing. I thought it was a really top performance from us tonight and we’ve done really well in the league without picking-up the points that we deserve. This will give the players a lot of confidence”

Could Derek’s men carry this upturn in their collective fortunes into a League Two match today and start to grind their way upwards from the very bottom of the entire EFL?

Today’s opponents weren’t having anything like such a good time just down the coast from us in Blackpool last Tuesday. There, Crewe were walloped 4-1 by the Tangerines in the same EFL Trophy competition.

The Shrimps and the Railwaymen have met eighteen times altogether in the past in various competitions. Morecambe have won five of these; Crewe ten, including heavy defeats of the men from Lancashire at Gresty Road in recent times: 6-0 six years ago and 5-0 during 2019. But Derek’s team won there 1-3 two years ago in League One and Ged Brannan’s side did so again last season, coming from 2-0 down to win by the odd goal in five. Today, though, Morecambe began the game as the only club in League Two with no points and – perhaps just as alarmingly – as the sole team yet to register any goals. Crewe shared this unwelcome distinction until two weeks ago. But a 1-2 win away at Bromley last Saturday and a goal-less draw against Swindon Town seven days earlier has seen the club from Cheshire shoot up the table to a heady eighteenth place.

It’s noticeable that the four clubs Morecambe have lost to so far – all by the same score; one-nil – are currently occupying the top five positions in the table. Yet Derek’s latest team performed creditably against all of these leading sides – with arguably the exception of Walsall on the opening day of the season – and our hope, as Shrimps supporters, is that Morecambe’s current position is a false one and that they will soon be moving up the division.

As far as Alexandra are concerned, Derek said that they are

“A team which we know well; a team that pushed very hard last season to get promoted; just missing out. This season, they’ve changed a wee bit of their style of play. So we understand them a bit better but they have changed their style of play from last season.”

The Morecambe Manager also said that goalkeeper Stuart Moore – personally culpable for both of the Shrimps’ last two losses with really poor basic mistakes – was receiving `special training’. The King added his own quite philosophical analysis of why these errors have occurred:

“He needs to learn. It doesn’t just happen, it happens because you have not done well enough. You can make excuses, and that’s a problem in life. We all make excuses about something – we have to cut that out and become better.”

For the hosts, Manager Lee Bell would be only too aware that his team have not scored at Gresty Road in their last six matches. He added that he had to consider

“What dangers the opposition can bring. With that, though, there’s also (that) you have play certain formations because you think you can hurt the opposition. So we’ve had a look at it and we might do something different come Saturday. But there are a lot of factors that come into it. Obviously, the home fans haven’t seen a win for some time now. We are coming up against an extremely tough opposition. Their results have been really, really tight. There’s just the fine margins in the game. Their stats are good. So they’re waiting for that little bit of luck to turn the corner. Their overall play has probably merited more than what they have on the board at the minute. They are a good team and I don’t expect them to be where they are for long. It’ll be a tough game.”

It was dry, quite warm but cloudy and overcast as the game started in Cheshire. Morecambe kicked-off and there wasn’t a lot to report for the first little while. Crewe’s Shilow Tracey picked-up an early booking in the tenth minute when conceding the third of Morecambe’s free-kicks so far but there was little goal-mouth action at either end. Callum Jones attempted the first strike on target after twenty-two minutes but pulled the ball just wide. Then Gwion Edwards did well to work his way into the opposition half before putting over a cross which was just too high for Lee Angol in the middle. The visitors won a couple of corners which came to nothing and Old Boy Ryan Cooney found himself unexpectedly in the visitors’ penalty area with about half an hour played but didn’t seem to know what to do next. Jordan Slew then took a shot which seemed to be on-target but hit Railwaymen Captain Mickey Demetriou on the back after 37 minutes. But the goal drought ended with five minutes left of the first half to play. Morecambe Skipper Yann Songo’s was penalised by Referee Scott Simpson for a shirt tug on his opposite number Demetriou. Or did the Ref see Jamie Stott handle the ball? – if he did, nobody else in the ground seemed to do so. Whatever, Kane Hemmings sent Stuart Moore the wrong way as he scored Alexandra’s first home goal in absolutely ages – and his opening one for the club – from the spot. It seemed a harsh decision but without it, there would have been no scoring at all in the first period.  Everything considered, the pattern of the half showed two sides short of confidence and decidedly shot-shy with little quality on show from either team.

I wasn’t at the game today but Special Correspondent Graham Hartley was. Here is his assessment of the first half:

“They are better than us technically. They pass the ball to each other. We hit it forward hoping for scraps. Angol wins the headers but we have nobody to pick up the won ball.”

Oh dear. Derek made three changes for the start of the second half as he changed the shape of his team. The two Lewis’ came on and 6’7” Marcus Dackers made his debut as birthday boy Jordan Slew; Gwion Edwards and David Tutonda were all withdrawn.

Adam Lewis had a pop at goal from a long way out after 47 minutes but his shot was too high. Morecambe had a golden opportunity to equalise with ten minutes played as Aston Villa loanee goalkeeper Filip Marshall was closed-down by Dackers and panicked. The ball went to Luke Hendrie who found the side netting instead of the target as the `Goals For’ column for the Shrimps remained empty. Crewe then came close again after 58 minutes when a well-placed Hemmings’ shot went right across the visitors’ goal and wide. Callum Jones then forced a routine save from the home goalkeeper with 62 minutes on the clock before Cooney went on a run for Alexandra and unleashed a shot which didn’t trouble Stuart Moore. Cooney was then fouled by Captain Songo’o – who was booked – and Moore made a good save from the resulting free-kick by substitute Omar Bogle with 72 minutes played. The Shrimps’ stopper did well again a minute later when he managed to deny Joel Tabiner at the second time of asking. Down the other end, though, Marschall did even better when he produced a phenomenal save from Lee Angol after 76 minutes. He then denied Adam Lewis with another good stop a minute or so later. As Morecambe threw the kitchen sink at them, Cooney and then Jamie Knight-Lebel blocked shots in the danger area for the Railwaymen. Adam Lewis then walloped another screamer which seemed to hit official home Man of the Match Cooney on the arm but the Referee gave nothing this time.

So it ended with a depressingly familiar score-line: Morecambe lost again by the only goal of the game. They looked poor in the first half even in a match of very low quality but once Derek changed the line-up and the formation, they were the much better team throughout the second as Alexandra clearly were hoping to simply hold onto the lead they were handed on a plate in the first period. So Morecambe remain rooted to the bottom of the table, albeit only a single win away from safety. Crewe shot-up to lucky thirteenth position. Poor old Derek is beginning to sound like a record stuck in the groove. But this is what he said following the latest set-back:

“We were the better side on the day. Lee Bell said that to us after. We deserved more out of the game. We had more opportunities on goal than Crewe did. First half, we huffed and puffed.  In the second half, we became more direct and that caused them problems. They were fortunate to get a penalty at the end of the day. We just have to be a wee bit cuter and better around that eighteen-yard box. This team is a good side. The time will change and I think that when we do, we will go on a really good run, there’s no doubt about it.”

After the game, the usual siren voices started whingeing on some of the Morecambe FC forums. We’re Doomed Captain Mainwearing – Barrer are better – blah, blah, negative blah. This pessimism is not shared by proper Shrimps’ fans who actually watch them and I give the final word to one of them, our guest contributor Graham Hartley. (I am also indebted to Graham for the excellent photos in this article):

“Battered them most of the second half of the second half. We’re cursed. Adam Lewis came on for Tutonda second half. He’s a real footballer. Most Shrimp supporters applauded the team for ten minutes after the final whistle. Some of the newer players looked bemused. Like: “Is this sarcasm?””

Proper Shrimps’ fans know that it’s not. Here are some of them at the game today, god bless them:

Unlike some others, we respect the efforts of our manager and our players. Keep the faith!

Crewe Alexandra: 12 Filip Marschall; 2 Ryan Cooney; 3 Jamie Knight-Lebel; 4 Zac Williams (Y); 5 Mickey Demetriou (C); 6 Max Sanders (17 Matúš Holíček 61’); 8 Conor Thomas; 10 Shilow Tracey (Y) (9 Omar Bogle 61’); 11 Joel Tabiner (26 Kian Breckin 84’); 15 Kane Hemmings (18 James Connolly 75’); 25 Max Conway (14 Jack Lankester 61’).

Subs not used: 1 Tom Booth; 28 Lewis Billington.

Morecambe: 25 Stuart Moore; 2 Luke Hendrie (22 Ross Millen 62’); 6 Jamie Stott; 7 Gwion Edwards (19 Marcus Dackers 45’); 8 Harvey Macadam; 10 Lee Angol (Y); 11 Jordan Slew (3 Adam Lewis 45’); 14 Rhys Williams; 23 David Tutonda (17 Paul Lewis 45’); 24 Yann Songo’o (C) (Y) (18 Ben Tollitt 78’); 28 Callum Jones.

Subs not used: 1 Harry Burgoyne; 12 Kayden Harrack.

Ref: Scott Simpson.

Att: 4,868 (303 from Morecambe.)