LEAGUE TWO. SATURDAY, 14th DECEMBER 2024.

Toothless Morecambe not at the races at Cheltenham.

Morecambe travelled to Gloucestershire and the fringe of the Cotswolds today to see if they are able to replicate their excellent away form from last month. Prior to kick-off, hosts Cheltenham Town were fifteenth in League Two – nine points better off than twenty-third placed Morecambe – and have been beaten only once in their last six league games. They have only won two of these and obviously drawn three, including their last two matches, most recently at Doncaster last Saturday, where the game ended 2-2. Morecambe, by contrast, have also won two of their last six games and lost three, most recently when they were easily beaten 0-3 at home by Grimsby Town. In previous meetings with Cheltenham in various competitions, Morecambe have won eight games and lost thirteen.

During mid-week, the Shrimps lost again as they said goodbye to the EFL Trophy. In front of a small crowd at the Maz, Morecambe lost 0-1 to a Lincoln City side including JJ McKiernan, late of this parish. His contribution to the game was to go down off the ball and then abandon the action later on with yet another injury. He received a rousing reception from most of our number as he limped off the muddy field masquerading as a pitch. But this man – who could give Olympic Champion Tom Daley lessons in Diving – chose to deliberately turn his back on our club whereas other players – like Faz and Dan Crowley – (who had no choice in the matter) have been booed subsequently by many Shrimps’ fans. So – forgive me – how does that work exactly?

Anyway, the Morecambe Manager – Derek Adams – was not best pleased with his men after the weak display against Grimsby, describing their efforts as `our worst performance of the season. It wasn’t good enough. Today, they let themselves down.’ Given that his team consists of a number of players who couldn’t even get a renewed contract from Conference North clubs, this is hardly surprising. At times, though, Morecambe have looked – and played – more like a non-league than an EFL club and the fear is that the squad simply isn’t good enough to survive in League Two. So today was an opportunity for them to prove otherwise.

Derek went on record this week to register his intention to improve his mis-firing squad next month when the Transfer Window re-opens. He said:

“We’re probably looking at three or four incomings at this moment in time if possible. The outgoings? – we’re not sure as yet. There might be one or two that have to move out to allow them to get game time somewhere else. We probably won’t get (the newcomers) in as quickly as everyone hopes as that is the nature of the January transfer window.”

There has been Bad Blood between Cheltenham Boss Michael Flynn and Derek Adams in the past. Derek expressed no sympathy with his Opposite Number in the League Two Play-Off final just over three years ago, accusing the then Newport County boss of having provoked incidents which saw Shrimps players sent-off in their two previous meetings in the division. Since then, Mr Flynn has had the unenviable distinction of being sacked by both Walsall and Swindon before being appointed the boss at Whaddon Road last January. Today, he would be missing his Captain, Scot Bennett, who was injured in their FA Cup defeat at Salford two weeks ago. Midfielder Harry Pell and defender Ryan Haynes were also not available due to long-term injuries and Nottingham Forest loanee Manni Norkett will probably return permanently to his parent club following a bad ankle injury. Out-of-favour Norwich loanee Lewis Shipley is also not expected to play for the Robins again once the transfer window re-opens next month.

For the visitors, Derek Adams found himself in a curious position this week. Although his team is in the relegation zone in League Two, he has won the division’s Manager of the Month for the fourth time in his career for the Shrimps’ performances last month. This was the King’s reaction to his latest achievement:

“I’m obviously delighted at the recognition the players and staff of the football club have been given for the month of November. We’ve had a very successful month – winning important games away from home especially – and picking up points as well. It’s a run of form which has allowed us to catch teams above us and put pressure on them, and we need to continue that into December.”

As far as today’s game is concerned, the King of Morecambe continued:

“We go away from home – on our travels, we’ve done really well. We’re undefeated – I think – in the last four games away from home. So from that point of view, it’s a game we look forward to at Cheltenham. We’ve been in a good run of form – we’re one of the form teams in the league. It’s a team that are slightly higher than us in the league at this moment at time. They have bedded themselves in well this season. They’ve taken-in a number of players over the summer and strengthened the team from last season.”

Derek confirmed that Stuart Moore – who was between the sticks against Lincoln last Tuesday night – was still not fit enough to play in the league and also that Gwion Edwards, George Ray and Lee Angol are not yet in contention due to long-term injuries. Charlie Brown was also not named in today’s squad to potentially face a former employer.

Visiting Whaddon Road is always a weird experience for older Morecambe fans. The main stand there is an exact copy of that which once existed at Christie Park; Cheltenham wear a similar strip to some of ours in the past and even the club badge could be mistaken at distance for one of our older iterations by people who haven’t visited Specsavers recently.

The weather was more sunny than not, dry and still for a welcome change as the game kicked-off this afternoon. There was a minute’s applause to remember Town’s long-term Chairman Arthur Heywood, who sadly died recently – and then the match started.

Morecambe won the first corner of the afternoon after four minutes which was quite easily cleared by the Town defence.  Ethan Archer then played-in Jordan Thomas, whose shot bounced off the top of the away crossbar on its way into touch. Thomas missed with a wild shot then after catching Adam Lewis in possession with nine minutes played. Shrimps’ goalkeeper Harry Burgoyne hoofed a clearance down the field with just over a quarter of an hour played which could have given Hallam Hope a sniff of a chance if home stopper Joe Day hadn’t anticipated well and advanced to take the ball as Hallam tried to dribble it around him. Hope seemed to be pulled-back by the shirt in the home penalty area with 21 minutes played but Referee Sunny Singh wasn’t impressed. At the other end, Arkell Jude-Boyd hit the side netting with a shot following a cross from Tom Bradbury with 21 minutes played. Then Hallam headed wide from a Ben Tollitt corner two minutes later. Thomas – who had just been booked for handball moments earlier – missed for the hosts from some distance with half an hour played. In the thirty-third minute, however, Jude-Boyd beat Burgoyne with a powerful strike which gave Harry no chance to put the hosts into the lead after more sloppy play by Lewis, who had been cleverly beaten by the Robins’ player as he lobbed the ball over him in a dangerous position. Callum Jones then put a dangerous cross into the home box with thirty-six minutes on the clock but nobody in a white shirt was able to connect with it as it went out for a goal kick. Morecambe looked a bit disorganised after conceding the goal for a while with Hope looking increasingly isolated up-front on his own.

But as they began to regain their shape, Harvey Macadam almost caught Day out with a cross from the right which landed on the top of his net after forty minutes. Almost at the end of the half, Lewis took a shot which was deflected wide for a corner which came to nothing.

So it was a familiar story as half-time arrived: Morecambe playing reasonably well but undone by yet another failure to concentrate at a vital moment, this time by the usually dependable Adam Lewis.

Lewis was replaced by David Tutonda as Derek sent his men out early to warm-up for the second half. Tollitt got away on the right early doors but Jones’ effort after Macadam had taken over was way off target. There were few chances for either side following this and Derek shook things up by taking Callum Jones off and replacing him with Marcus Dackers after just over an hour. It made little difference and the game continued to be really scrappy until Tollitt took another corner after 70 minutes; Day found himself stranded in No Man’s Land and Hope had a clear header at an open goal. He missed though and a golden chance to equalise went missing with it.

Worse was to come after 74 minutes. The Morecambe goalkeeper was at fault this time as he blocked a shot from George Miller after a corner but then dithered and allowed the Town player to score easily at the second time of asking.

There’s not a lot more to say in all truth. This was another really poor display by the Shrimps. Against a mediocre side, they offered no real threat at any time and the home goalkeeper had no shots to save the entire game. Up front, Jordan Slew continued his disappointing form of recent times as Morecambe looked absolutely toothless in attack.

They deservedly stayed in the relegation zone tonight. One hope we still have is that at least two clubs in League Two are even more useless than we are. Right on cue, Carlisle duly lost again at home again, 0-2 to Chesterfield on this occasion. They remain rock bottom of the EFL but still have a game in hand and are only below the Shrimps on goal difference. Swindon also lost 1-0 at Bradford and are still catchable: just two points better-off than Morecambe with the same number of games played. Cheltenham, meanwhile, went up a couple of places to lucky thirteenth position.

Derek must be heartily sick this season of complaining about sloppy defending at one end and the failure of his men to take chances at the other. What sort of spin did he put on the latest loss tonight? This is what he said after the match:

“We were in control in that first half. The story of our season is we give away a goal. That’s exactly what we did. We give away a horrendous second goal: it’s embarrassing how we have given it away. We still got opportunities. We had a great chance at the back post – we have an open goal; we miss it. They have three attempts on target; we have zero on target. Everyone can see where our problem lies: we’re not hitting the target. We said this to them before the game: we had fifteen opportunities on goal the other night; zero on target. It’s not good enough. We are lacking in quality – that’s plain for everyone to see. That’s why we have lost the game two-nil. “

Cheltenham Town: 21 Joe Day; 2 Arkell Jude-Boyd; 4 Liam Kinsella; 6 Tom Bradbury; 8 Luke Young(C); 10 George Miller (9 Matt Taylor 75’); 15 Jordan Thomas (Y) (14 Liam James Dulson 75’); 16 Joel Colwill; 18 Ibrahim Bakare (Y); 22 Ethan Archer (27 Lewis Payne 92’); 25 Sam Stubbs.

Subs not used: 1 Owen Evans; 5 Levi Laing; 12 Ryan Bowman; 34 Tom Pett.

Morecambe:  1 Harry Burgoyne; 2 Luke Hendrie; 3 Adam Lewis (23 David Tutonda 45’); 4 Tom White (22 Ross Millen 89’); 6 Jamie Stott (C); 8 Harvey Macadam (Y); 9 Hallam Hope (17 Paul Lewis 85’); 11 Jordan Slew; 14 Rhys Williams (Y); 18 Ben Tollitt; 28 Callum Jones. (19 Marcus Dackers 63’).

Subs not used: 25 Stuart Moore; 5 Max Taylor; 24 Yann Songo’o.

Ref: Sunny Singh.

Att: 3,371 (I would guess about 200 from Morecambe )