LEAGUE TWO. TUESDAY, 23rd SEPTEMBER 2024.

Adam: First Man. Adams: a Better Model….

Morecambe made the short journey to the Fylde Coast tonight to face old adversary from as long ago as Lancashire Combination days, Fleetwood Town. This game should have been played last Saturday, when getting to and from Highbury would have been relatively easy for the majority of Shrimps supporters. But – in its infinite wisdom, Sky has decided to broadcast this game live tonight. So whilst armchair supporters across the country could watch it at their leisure, genuine Shrimps’ fans without their own transport or school or work commitments on Tuesday would not be able to attend this evening.

But when have the actual grass roots ever mattered to satellite broadcasters?

For those of us lucky enough to be there, everybody from north Lancashire would be hoping for a game as good as the one in which Cole Stockton scored a wonder goal from his own half right at the death to win the game 1-2 for the Shrimps in November 2021. (They would not be hoping for a defeat such as that inflicted by former icon Carlos Mendes-Gomes – currently sidelined at Bolton because of a ruptured Achilles tendon – by the only goal of the game a year last February.) Morecambe have played Fleetwood eight times before in Leagues One and Two and have won two and lost three previous matches.

Charlie Adam became the Cods’ Chief Coach in December last year. Although he was unable to reverse their perilous position – the Cod Army had lost nine games in a row when he took-over – he improved the team’s performance so much that they almost avoided relegation back to League Two at the end of the season, being just three points shy of safety at the finish of the campaign. This time out, following Saturday’s League Two fixtures, Fleetwood were twelfth in the Division. However, if they were to win tonight, they would be propelled up into seventh place in the table and a Play-Off spot into the bargain – incentive enough to go all out for victory this evening. They have won five of their eight league games so far and lost just two. Last month, moreover, they knocked Championship club West Bromwich Albion out of the League Cup and came close again last Tuesday night in the Potteries, where they equalised against Championship Stoke in injury time only to lose the penalty shoot-out which ensued. Mr Adam said after this defeat:

“It’s disappointing in terms of the result and not getting through to the next round as that’s what we set out to do. We believed we could come here and cause Stoke problems, and I am just immensely proud of the players to come here and show personality.”

As far as tonight’s contest is concerned, he added:

“We always love playing at home. It’s a good atmosphere: it’s a derby match. Derek is someone I respect really highly. He’s done a great job at the clubs he has been at, especially Morecambe. He had a lot of change there in the summer. I just think he’s done a brilliant job there with what he does. He’s had to transform his whole football club. He’s obviously had fifteen; sixteen players to come in. It takes time for them to get their ideas in. That’s part of good management; man management – getting the right culture; the right group together. So I know that their results are not what they probably want but the performances are there. We’ve watched them – they’ve had some good performances, losing the games by the odd goal. Last weekend obviously was a thriller. They showed great character to come back from three-one down. We know it’s going to be a tough match. We have to play with calm heads. We have to be controlled. We have to try and stamp our authority on the match. We have to be at it. We have to start the game fast. We have to play our own game and do what know we are good at.”

Opposite Number – and fellow Scot – Derek Adams arrived on the Fylde with a somewhat different mindset. Sent-off in the last home game against Colchester by appalling referee Geoff Eltringham, The King of Morecambe had to watch from the stands as his ten men fell behind from a winning position to trail the team from Essex 1-3. But the fighting spirit and refusal to give up which characterises all of Mr Adams’ teams meant that Morecambe, against all the odds, finally managed to equalise and – in doing so – put the first points of the season on the board to marginally improve their predicament at the very bottom of the Football League. Even if they could capture all three points this evening, the Shrimps would remain in the relegation positions in League Two, if only by one point. Whatever, this is what Derek – positive as ever – said prior to tonight’s game:

“It’s live on television which is always great. It’s nice to see that Morecambe football club will be in the picture. As for supporters going there, we won’t have as many travel as a Saturday but we will certainly have the support through the televisions, watching – and it’s a great occasion for both football clubs. (Fleetwood) have changed their squad about since last season – they have added strength in depth to the squad. They have lost some experienced players to other clubs. I was there with Danny (Grainger; Assistant Manager) on Tuesday night to watch them against Stoke and put on a really good performance. (Our) players have dealt well with big situations over the years and I’m sure the players, come Monday night, will be looking forward to it.”

Derek confirmed that – along with long-term injury victim George Ray and the suspended Luke Hendrie – Gwion Edwards and Tom White were still out of contention because of knocks they have picked-up recently. Paul Lewis was also a doubt and Harvey Macadam looked as if he might miss the first return to his former club because of injury too.

It had been grey with the threat of rain for most of the afternoon in Fleetwood prior to the game and stayed like that in the darkness as the match kicked-off under the lights and with the cameras in place.

Some Shrimps’ fans welcomed Sky to Fleetwood by once again noisily chanting their opinion that the satellite broadcaster might not be all that good – or words to that effect. I wonder if that was picked-up by the mikes, let alone commented upon…

From Morecambe’s point of view, this was a contest of two halves. In the first, they were ponderous; second-best when fifty/fifty challenges were concerned and showed no positive or progressive pattern of play. They cleared their lines by hoofing it forwards in the hope that Lee Angol – playing up-front alone – could make something of it. Most of the time, he couldn’t. A combination of robust Fleetwood defending, weak refereeing and sometimes half-hearted attempts to win the ball by himself meant that the visitor’s goal threat was almost non-existent. Having said that, though, they had a decent half-chance after six minutes when Harvey Macadam struck Adam Lewis’ excellent cross from the left narrowly wide of the target. The visitors also had the best opportunity to open the scoring after 22 minutes when Jamie Stott’s tremendous header from a perfect Ben Tollitt cross rattled David Harrington’s crossbar with the goalkeeper beaten.

But the team in the predominantly red strip looked a class apart for most of the first half. Unlike Morecambe, they were quick to the ball; even faster to counter-attack and they forced a number of excellent saves from often completely exposed Shrimps’ Stopper Stuart Moore.  The Cods’ first chance fell to Carl Johnston after seven minutes, when he was played-in by Fleetwood Captain and official Man of the Match Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu but he struck his shot from a cross wide of the target. Ronan Coughlan then hit the post three minutes later before Moore had his first tricky save of the game to make from Danny Mayor with a quarter of an hour played: Stu kept the ball out with his legs as the Fleetwood man had a clear strike on goal. Phoenix Patterson then fired straight at the away goalkeeper after 21 minutes. But – with the momentum increasing for the Cod Army, it seemed just a matter of time before they took the lead. Coughlan couldn’t have come much closer when his strike from the centre of the goal was miraculously deflected wide by a phenomenal block by Rhys Williams – the shot bouncing off his back as he dived to the ground to block the strike. The hosts took the resulting corner, indulged in a clearly rehearsed short-passing routine before Mayor sent over a peach of a cross which Ryan Graydon steered home with an excellent diving header. As the home crowd noisily encouraged them, Fleetwood had total control of the game by this point in the game. They had more chances but had to settle for a second goal by Graydon as he cleverly chipped a sublime pass from Patterson which went right through the centre of the Shrimps’ rearguard over a hopelessly exposed Moore deep into injury time at the end of a dominant first half display.

From the stands where he was serving the ban which followed his sending-off against Colchester, the King shook things up completely at half time; changing the line-up and formation of his team. He took off Harvey Macadam, Rhys Williams, Callum Jones and Lee Angol and moved Ben Tollitt from right winger to right wing-back. To replace the withdrawn players, he sent on Marcus Dackers. Jordan Slew, Kayden Harrack and David Tutonda. Immediately, they looked and played like a completely different outfit and from the first minute of the second half until the last, they were by far the better team. Led from the back by outstanding Skipper Yann Songo’o, for the first time in the game, the Shrimps pressed the Cods back into their own half and made the team in red look first of all distinctly ordinary before finally reducing them to panic-stricken defending by the end as they struggled to maintain either their shape or their discipline in their desperation to cling onto three points. Adam Lewis showed the re-jinked Shrimps’ intent after 56 minutes with a fierce strike from distance which only just missed the target. Namesake Paul then fired straight at home stopper David Harrington with 69 minutes on the clock. But the pressure the revitalised Shrimps were steadily applying paid off first of all after 74 minutes. Tutonda took a free-kick from deep on the Morecambe left; Slewy got his head to it and Captain Courageous Songo’o deftly finished it with a clever flick over the advancing Harrington which any centre forward would have been proud of. As the home team responded by regularly feigning injury and stopping play for minutes at a time in a bid to break the momentum they had totally lost, Hallam Hope was sent on to join the fray. With Dackers the chief tormentor of the Cods’ defence – I have a vision of him progressing to the right hand side of the home penalty area with a Fleetwood defender being dragged along with him as he desperately tried to pull the big striker back by his shirt – it was fitting that he set-up the equalising move. He again rampaged up the reds’ left flank before sending over a perfect cross which an unmarked Hope had the considerable nous to chest – rather than head – past the home custodian for a tremendous equalising goal. This was with just four minutes still scheduled to play. And if the game had lasted a hundred instead of ninety minutes, I know who everybody’s money would have been on to get a winner…

So this was literally a game of two halves. Morecambe played like a non-league team in the first half but made Fleetwood look like a rabble trying everything they could think of to cling onto the points during the second. And in this, yet again, criticism must be made of the Referee. Matthew Corlett was hopeless tonight and got lots of decisions wrong. I’ve not had the benefit of a replay so I may be mistaken but I thought his booking of Lee Angol for diving during the first half was a travesty: I was sitting only a few yards away from where I thought Lee was clearly brought-down for a penalty. As was the case against Colchester, the opposing defence did everything – fair or foul – to stop Marcus Dackers – and the useless referee indulged them. Town players also dived-in and made some really bad tackles tonight on at least three occasions. So why was not even one of them sent-off? How was it that a particularly bad lunge at speed from distance which the intended recipient fortunately saw coming and avoided didn’t even merit a booking? How does that work?

The battling draw did not help Morecambe’s predicament at the bottom of League Two much. But – to put a positive spin on it – at least they doubled their points tally for the campaign so far tonight. The draw saw Fleetwood remain in twelfth place in the table.

So what did King Derek make of what happened tonight? As ever, he was brutally honest in his assessment of the match:

“At half time, we make four substitutions; we changed the way that we were playing; we became more direct. I needed to change personnel – Fleetwood were getting too much success against certain personnel and we had to change that. We were too open at times and that hasn’t been like us this season – and we made a number of errors. And then, later in the second half, it just looked like we were going to get a goal. Once we got the first goal, it gave us that belief. We knew, at that stage of the game – similar to the Colchester game – that they had gone. The Fleetwood team backed-off and allowed us the space. The fighting spirit; the togetherness was there for all to see. We went a wee bit more direct in the second half and that eventually paid off for us. We’re at a stage at this moment in time where our play has to be a bit better in that final third. We are getting into the final third but we’re not finding the right pass; we’re not making the completion – and that has to improve. That is where our downfall is at this moment in time. But the way that we keep on going; the togetherness, shows that we will go far this season.”

Fleetwood: 1 David Harrington; 2 Carl Johnston (Y): 4 Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu; 5 James Bolton (Y); 6 Elliot Bonds (Y); 7 Ryan Graydon (Y); 10 Danny Mayor (8 Matty Virtue 57’); 15 Rhys Bennett; 17 Mark Helm (Y) (11 Ryan Broom 73’); 19 Ronan Coughlan (9 Kian Harratt 57’); 44 Phoenix Patterson (16 Mackenzie Hunt (Y) 73’).

Subs not used:  13 Jay Lynch; 20 Mipo Odubeko; 32 Kayden Hughes.

Morecambe: 25 Stuart Moore; 3 Adam Lewis; 6 Jamie Stott; 8 Harvey Macadam (19 Marcus Dackers 45’); 10 Lee Angol (Y) (12 Kayden Harrack 45’); 14 Rhys Williams (11 Jordan Slew 45’); 17 Paul Lewis; 18 Ben Tollitt (Y); 22 Ross Millen (9 Hallam Hope 78’); 24 Yann Songo’o (C) (Y); 28 Callum Jones (23 David Tutonda 45’).

Subs not used: 1 Harry Burgoyne; 5 Max Taylor.

Ref: Matthew Corlett.

Att: 4,025 (several hundreds from Morecambe.)