LEAGUE TWO. SATURDAY, 16th NOVEMBER 2024.

Valiant Effort against Leaders Port Vale

Top and bottom of League Two met in north Lancashire today as leaders Port Vale visited lowly Morecambe with two very contrasting aims in mind. Vale would be hoping to get back on track having seen their record of five straight league wins come off the tracks last Saturday against Gillingham, who hadn’t won in six games and had lost four of them, drawing the other. The loss was actually the Potteries’ club second in a row after having been dumped out of the FA Cup the previous Saturday at Vale Park 1-3 by League One Barnsley. On Tuesday night last, though, they beat Wrexham on penalties at the same venue after the FA Trophy tie had ended 1-1 after normal time.

Morecambe, by contrast, were in the unusual position this season of starting the game on the back of two consecutive victories in major competitions.  Another win today could take them out of the relegation zone in League Two. They scored an injury time winner at Harrogate last Saturday to take all three points with the odd goal in three. Seven days earlier, they had defied many pundits’ predictions to win 0-2 at Worthing to ensure a home tie against Bradford City in Round Two of the FA Cup. The winning streak seemed to be continuing last Tuesday night as they took an early lead through Hallam Hope at the Maz against Carlisle in the FA Trophy. But the Cumbrians turned the tie on its head with two goals in three minutes to lead 1-2 with just twelve minutes left. Despite not being able to change the score, Morecambe ended-up top of the group and are guaranteed a home tie in the next round, for which they have qualified for the first time ever.

The Shrimps have met Vale as many as twenty-four times previously in various competitions with the Staffordshire club winning eight but the Lancashire one getting the better of them on ten occasions. The last time they met was on 21^st February 2023 in League One. Connor Ripley was in goal for the Shrimps and kept a clean sheet as his team scored the only goal of the game. Today, he was between the sticks for the visitors and it would be interesting to see if he could keep another clean sheet this afternoon against his previous employers and a Manager who he has said `rekindled’ his love for football at a time when he has admitted he had lost it altogether.

In my view, Vale Manager Darren Moore is one of the most under-rated – and best – Managers to be found anywhere in the EFL. No wonder they have given him a five and a half year contract. It is no surprise that a club which has struggled for years is finally going places once more under his control and with enlightened guidance from a progressive board headed by Carol Shanahan, one of the most able chair-persons at any British club at this moment in time. This is what Mr Moore said to the media before this afternoon’s game:

“Saturday’s game will be a complete different game to what we witnessed at Priestfield Stadium last week. We’ve got to be ready for it. We’ve done our work again on them. They’ve got a real experienced Manager in Derek Adams; how he sets them up. They got an outstanding result at Harrogate last week and it’s a difficult place, Harrogate – so it’s a good result for them. We’re looking forward to the game. But it’s a different game. It will take different parts of us as a team to make sure we are getting (things) right in possession and certainly out of possession as well because they do pose a threat. We will work together as a group and we’ll formulate a team and a squad to go up to Morecambe and contest those three points.”

Opposite Number Derek Adams gave this view of today’s match:

“They’ve got very good experience. They’ve recruited well over the summer period. They’ve come down from League One. They have taken-in players from the Championship – which other clubs can’t do. They’ve got them playing in a certain way that’s allowed them to get to the top of the league. They are going to be a difficult team to play against.  We have to stop them playing to start with. We have to then be good on the ball. We have to complete our passes. We have to then create the chances, we need to take them. We haven’t taken enough of the bigger chances when they come along. They don’t come along very often at times. But when they do come along, we need to be more clinical. And it’s vice versa: when the opposition get a chance, then we’ve got to be very good defensively. We are going to have to provide a shock. We’re going to have to be at our best on Saturday. Yes, Port Vale are going to have to make errors to allow us to win. We have to have good play and we need to take our chances when they come along.”

Before the game, there was a mass demonstration by Morecambe fans against the owner of the club – Jason Whittingham – and the constant foot-dragging by both himself and putative unknown purchasers of his controlling interest in the club.

King Derek is understandably reluctant to be drawn-into this ongoing crisis but he did tell the media the following earlier in the week:

“When I was here the last time, it did affect me. It affected me off the field personally. I didn’t let that come out but it did (affect me) and that was part of the choice that I made to move away because I knew what was going on in the background. This time I’ve come back and asked not to be told anything until there’s a conclusion to the matter. That is important because then I can focus on what I can deal with and that’s what I’ve tried to do this season.”

As Morecambe fans collectively held the black balloons which had been handed-out after the march and some of our number held up official Shrimps Trust placards or unfurled their own home–made banners protesting against the current ownership, the game kicked-off in a heavy drizzle under leaden skies.

This was a game where there was barely a wafer-thin mint between the two teams. Neither Morecambe’s current goalkeeper – Harry Burgoyne – or their last one – Connor Ripley – were particularly busy throughout a match which never failed to be good to watch. To their considerable credit, the league leaders had clearly come here to win the game. There was no diving, feigning injury or time wasting from them even after they belatedly took the lead.

By half time, though, I thought that any neutral watching proceedings so far would be hard-pressed to guess which of the two teams on display was leading the division and which one was bottom of it. Morecambe gave at least as good as they got and had by far the best chance of the game when a wonderful cross from Adam Lewis – who had done brilliantly to win the ball on the Morecambe left – was somehow turned over the bar by Ben Tollitt when just a simple touch would have resulted in a goal for the hosts. Having said that, today wasn’t Ben’s best game for the Shrimps by any means. He often lost the ball when tackled by more determined opposition players and never did anything to try to retrieve his blunders. In situations where a bit more commitment by himself could have won a tackle or intercepted a loose ball to threaten the away goal, he was always found wanting this afternoon. But that can’t be said of the rest of the team today: they put-in what I personally think was their most accomplished performance of the season so far.

The Valiants actually got the ball into the net with just over half an hour played. I thought that Ruan Paton was off-side but the Vale X feed tells me that wonderfully-named referee Zac Kennard-Kettle had stopped play for an earlier foul by the visitors.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first and Morecambe managed to get the ball in the net when Captain Jamie Stott headed home after 81 minutes. But the Ref ruled that he was off-side – probably only marginally but off-side nevertheless.

Port won a corner on their right just three minutes later. It was headed onwards by Jayden Stockley at the near post and Ethan Chislett was able to wallop it home to electrify the packed terrace behind him – and win the game. I think that one of the things which characterised this afternoon’s performance by Morecambe was the way they had silenced the away fans until this late point in the game. I suspect that their exhilaration once the goal went home was far more to do with relief than it was anything else and that in itself speaks volumes for the quality of the Shrimps’ performance today.

Defeat was barely what Morecambe deserved but Vale took their golden chance when it arrived – and Morecambe didn’t. The win pushed the visitors five points clear of the chasing pack tonight. Morecambe obviously stayed bottom but – with Carlisle and Swindon both drawing away from home and Colchester getting a point at home against Bradford City, the Shrimps’ plight at the bottom of the EFL got ever so slightly worse. But still only three points separated them from safety and if they continue to play as well as they did this afternoon, there is good reason to hope that they will still be able to escape the Drop Zone by the end of the season.

What did King Derek make of it all?:

“I thought it was a really good game. I thought we competed really well. We were going at them; causing them problems and dealing with the threat that they had. They get a corner kick; they get a late runner that gets them the goal. These are the big moments that turn games. In the end, performance-wise, I’ve got to be delighted to again play against one of the top teams in the league (and) compete. I didn’t think they deserved to win the game – I think that a draw could have been fair. There wasn’t much difference on the day.”

It’s worth hearing what Darren Moore made of today’s match as well:

“It was a really difficult game today. Credit to Morecambe. I detailed Morecambe with the problems that they have caused teams. But what people don’t see is that they are a team that’s quickly improving with every single game. We knew today that it was going to be a difficult game on their own patch. I thought the work-rate; the energy that they put into it – and at times when the third man runs off our back shoulder was really, really difficult.”

Morecambe:  1 Harry Burgoyne; 2 Luke Hendrie; 3 Adam Lewis; 4 Tom White; 6 Jamie Stott (C); 7 Gwion Edwards (17 Paul Lewis 69’); 14 Rhys Williams; 18 Ben Tollitt; 19 Marcus Dackers (9 Hallam Hope 74’); 23 David Tutonda (8 Harvey Macadam 45’); 28 Callum Jones (11 Jordan Slew 89’).

Subs not used: 5 Max Taylor; 12 Kayden Harrack 22 Ross Millen; 24 Yann Songo’o.

Port Vale: 1 Connor Ripley; 4 Ben Heneghan; 5 Connor Hall (C); 9 Jayden Stockley; 10 Ethan Chislett (Y) (16 Jason Lowe 92’); 11 Roland Curtis (37 Benicio Baker-Boaitey (Y) 71’); 15 Conor Grant (42 Sam Hart 70’); 17 Ruari Paton (26 Rico Richards 72’); 18 Ryan Croasdale; 20 Tom Sang; 27 Brandon Cover (6 Nathan Smith 87’).

Subs not used:  13 Ben Amos: 19 Laurent Tolaj.

Ref: Zac Kennard-Kettle.

Att: 4,150 (over 1300 from Burslem or environs.)