LEAGUE TWO. SATURDAY, 9th NOVEMBER 2024.

Harrogate Happiness for Morecambe.

Morecambe travelled to God’s Own Country today to play a game against Harrogate Town which was broadcast by a certain well-known Satellite television company and kicked-off at half past Midday precisely in order to fit-in with their tight schedules.

Until last season at this venue, the Shrimps had an impressive record in the league against the Suphurites: three games played, two won and none lost. Then they lost 2-0; had then Captain Faz sent-off and saw the hopeless Referee award a penalty to Town for which the FA had to apologise later and then miss a really bad foul which resulted in a clearly dazed JJ McKiernan  leaving the field with a swelling the size of an egg on the side of his head.

Harrogate started this afternoon’s game in seventeenth position in League Two; eight points better-off then their visitors, who lay right at the bottom of the entire EFL with just seven points in the bank so far this season. Last Saturday, the Sulphurites defeated League One Wrexham here and their attendant Hollywood Stardust in the FA Cup by the only game of the match. Before that, they had lost their previous two league games; three out of six altogether and only won once. Their visitors’ league form, by contrast, was even worse:  three losses on the spin; four out of six in total and only one win: their only League Two success so far this season. On the plus-side though, the Shrimps kept a rare clean sheet last Saturday when they faced a tricky tie at Worthing in the FA Cup but ran-out winners by the two goals scored during the match.

Long-term Harrogate boss Simon Weaver said this about today’s opponents prior to the game:

“They’re a tough opponent. It doesn’t matter where they are in the league, there’s quality in every single team at this level. We know where their threats are and it’s about nullifying them.”

Morecambe Manager Derek Adams expressed these thoughts about today’s opponents before his team set off from north Lancashire:

“They’re a team that plays with high energy – they always have been. They’re a team that likes to run forward and create openings. They play in a different style to what they did at the start of the season because they’ve moved formations about a bit.  They’re getting back to what they were probably a couple of seasons ago.”

There were prolonged Remembrance-related events on the pitch before the game started in front of the TV cameras under overcast skies. On the eve of Remembrance Sunday, there was a moving rendition of The Last Post followed by a two-minute silence during which you could hear a pin drop.

Morecambe started brightly with Gwion Edwards looking lively and Marcus Dackers getting accustomed right from the start to players in yellow shirts trying to remove his with their constant pulling and holding. Today, apparently, he was wearing a custom-made shirt instead of the oversize ones he usually appears in. This is intended to reduce the possibility of him being constantly pulled back because there is now less material for defenders to grab hold of – but it certainly didn’t stop the men in yellow trying to do so throughout the afternoon. His Opposite Number Stephen Duke-McKenna had the first shot of the afternoon for the hosts with eight minutes played but it was way off target.

As drizzle started to fall heavily from the leaden skies, Morecambe played some nice passing moves going forward. One of these led to the first corner of the afternoon by Adam Lewis during the nineteenth minute which was almost put past his own goalkeeper by defender Josh March but it wouldn’t have counted because American Referee Alex Chilowicz ruled Edwards to be in an off-side position.

Down the other end, the Sulphurites won their first corner of the afternoon with twenty-three minutes on the clock but it was easily cleared by the Shrimps’ defence. A minute or so later, ex-Sutton United forward Duke-McKenna tried his luck again with another shot which was still off-target – but this time, only just.

Twenty-five minutes had been played when Ben Tollitt took a shot and slipped as he did so but the effort was blocked by the Harrogate defence in any case. Thirty-six minutes had been played when Gwion had a run on Harrogate full-back Zico Asare on the Morecambe left and won a corner. Tollitt took it and Rhys Williams was in the right place at the right time for the second game in a row to head it firmly past Town Captain James Belshaw to put the Shrimps one goal to the good.

Six minutes later, Edwards found himself up against former Shrimps Captain O’Connor following a flick by Dackers but he mis-hit his resultant shot and saw it fly over the bar.

So the Shrimps went back to the Dressing Rooms in an unusual position in a League Two game: winning – and deservedly so.

There were no changes by either Manager at half time. Harrogate had the first chance of the new period when Adam Lewis lost possession in the middle of the park and O’Connor was allowed to lob a forward pass to Jack Muldoon who was unable to force a save from away custodian Stuart Moore despite being well-placed.

Town had most of the possession for the first ten minutes or so of the re-start and were playing with a higher press then they had every employed during the first period. But the end result of it was precisely nothing: Stu caught a cross and fielded a back-pass or two but otherwise had little to do during this time.

In fact, Morecambe had the best chance so far after 57 minutes when clever play again by Edwards almost set-up Dackers for a tap-in but Belshaw reacted quickest to snuff-out the threat. Harrogate hit back immediately, though, and Ellis Taylor forced a smart save from Moore with an hour gone only for Muldoon to sweep-home the rebound from a clearly off-side position so it didn’t count.

Belshaw had the next save to make with 72 minutes played when Callum Jones warmed his hands with a shot from distance. But the sudden worry was at the other end of the pitch as the visiting goalkeeper first slipped when taking a goal-kick and later had to receive attention on the pitch. He had to be helped from it with about fifteen minutes left.

His replacement, Harry Burgoyne, made a good stop almost as soon as he came on. Faced with a suicidal back-pass, he rushed from his line and manged to clear the ball before an on-rushing Muldoon reached it first. Harry then made a tremendous save from Matt Foulds’ header with ten minutes left to play. With Town now asking all the questions, Burgoyne would have been blameless if substitute James Daly had scored after 84 minutes. But – presented with an open goal at the far post after good approach play by the hosts down their right and a perfect cross by Dean Cornelius – he totally fluffed his lines and the Shrimps survived. But they wouldn’t survive much longer. As they looked increasingly stretched at the back, Daly atoned for his earlier miss when he fired home through a sea of legs – including the goalkeeper’s – in the eighty-ninth minute.

During injury time, though, sub Jordan Slew had a good chance to restore Morecambe’s lead but his shot was brilliantly – and bravely – blocked by a Town defender. Belatedly, though, they started to take the game to Harrogate once more. It paid off in the sixth minute of injury time when Gwion played a clever pass to substitute Harvey Macadam, who kept his head and placed a superb side-footed shot past Belshaw to win the game for the men in the white shirts. But Town had the last word in the game and Burgoyne pulled-off another tremendous save right at the end of the match.

So it was an absolutely brilliant win for the Shrimps this afternoon in Yorkshire. They were the better team during the first half but were pushed increasingly deeper into their own half during the second. The fighting spirit of the team, however, is undeniable and the scenes at the end as the players and fans sparked each other says a lot about the relationship between the club and its supporters.

The win didn’t push them off the bottom of the league, though. With Carlisle winning with an eleventh-hour goal at Salford and Colchester scoring during injury time to claw a point in their 1-1 draw at Barrow, only Swindon lost: 3-1 in Milton Keynes after leading in the first minute. But only three points covers Morecambe in twenty-fourth place and Colchester in twenty-first.

This is what King Derek said after the match:

“That’s really important that we won today. We won last week away to Worthing in the FA cup; we’ve won today. Another three points for us in the league. It keeps the form going. When you come away from home; to get three points – it’s a difficult venue to come to; Harrogate have got a great home record. Now we’re five points off fifteenth place in the mid- table. It’s a huge win for us today. We’ve come here against a team who had beaten Wrexham at home last week in the FA Cup. So their tails were up.  We’ve shown a great team spirit to get the three points.” 

Harrogate: 31 James Belshaw (C); 2 Zico Asare; 3 Matthew Foulds; 5 Jasper Moon; 8 Dean Cornelius; 9 Stephen Duke-McKenna (12 Sam Folarin 65’); 15 Anthony O’Connor; 18 Jack Muldoon; 21 Ellis Taylor; 22 Stephen Dooley; 24 Josh March (11 James Daly 66’).

Subs not used:31 Mark Oxley; 4 Josh Falkingham; 6 Warren Burrell; 14 T Sims; 17 Levi Sutton.

Morecambe: 25 Stuart Moore (1 Harry Burgoyne 75’); 2 Luke Hendrie; 3 Adam Lewis (12 Kayden Harrack 75’); 4 Tom White (8 Harvey Macadam (Y) 82’); 6 Jamie Stott (C); 7 Gwion Edwards; 14 Rhys Williams; 18 Ben Tollitt; 19 Marcus Dackers (11 Jordan Slew 82’); 23 David Tutonda; 28 Callum Jones.

Subs not used:  5 Max Taylor; 9 Hallam Hope; 22 Ross Millen.

Ref: Alex Chilowicz.

Att: 2,982 (c.400 from Morecambe.)