LEAGUE TWO. TUESDAY, 4th FEBRUARY 2025.

Normal Service is Resumed at Newport

I wrote the following several weeks ago:

“Morecambe’s first away game of 2025 necessitated a trip over the border to south Wales and famous Rugby Union ground Rodney Parade.

Tenants Newport County have only won one of their last six League Two games and lost three in a row. The latest defeat was at home against AFC Wimbledon last Thursday night, when they went down 1-2.

The recent reversal in their fortunes meant that County have slipped to eighteenth place in League Two. At the start of play, they were just six points ahead of the Shrimps as the visitors languished in twenty-third place. But the Welsh club have played one game fewer than their guests from Lancashire.

Against Morecambe, the Exiles have won eight of twenty-one previous fixtures and lost nine. Most famously, they were defeated at Wembley when Derek Adams led his Shrimps to League One with a 1-0 victory over County. Since then, though, Newport have won three out of four matches against today’s visitors. Last year at this venue, County finally won a thrilling game against Ged Brannan’s Shrimps 5-3 after the visitors had fought back from 2-1 and then 3-1 down to equalise in the seventy-fourth minute only for the Welsh side to score two more goals before the end.

The latest meeting between the two was the reverse fixture in August when home goalkeeper Stuart Moore inexplicably presented former Morecambe favourite Aaron Wildig with an easy chance which Aaron netted to win the game. Wildig also scored the first two goals last season against Morecambe at Rodney Parade, with current Morecambe man Adam Lewis netting the third for County. Sadly for him, Aaron was not available for selection this afternoon – his season came to an end when he suffered a serious knee injury against Grimsby in November. There was also doubt that former Shrimp Shane McLoughlin would feature against his former club following an injury against the Wombles which forced him to leave the field early.

This is what Morecambe boss Derek Adams said about this afternoon’s fixture before his team set off from England:

“We played very well against them here in the game earlier in the season; a game that we should have won with the amount of opportunities we had. But Newport will be saying that about the game against Wimbledon the other night. They should have won the game. They should have been two; maybe three-nil up. We know what kind of team they are and we are ready for it. We’ve got to catch the teams above us. We know there are teams in there that are catchable.”

Opposite Number Nelson Jardim told the South Wales Argus prior to the game:

“We have 23 games to go. I am confident that if we win seven games we will be fine. We need to improve, adjust and find solutions up front and a bit more quality, because we can’t create those chances and not score. We cannot lose our way and our shape. This is a project that you can clearly see is shaping up, and it’s not just this season. You cannot change 17 players, most of them young, and think they will roll everyone over. We have spoken all season about being patient and you cannot say that the team hasn’t improved from September, October, November. We have to give the players time to develop and accept that sometimes they don’t play to the level that you want.  When you build a team with young players you have to stick with them, stick to the plan and develop them. Hopefully they can get to a level when they go on to bigger adventures and everyone is doing their best every day in training.”

As far as Morecambe specifically is concerned, he added:

“It’s a tough game. They have just come off a good win at home and the first game against them was very tough. In this league anyone can beat anyone but we will look to improve on the performance from the first half against Wimbledon, and take our chances.”

Yesterday, there were several matches in League Two which have a direct bearing on Morecambe’s predicament in the relegation positions in the basement of the division.  Rock-bottom club Carlisle lost at home again, which is a good thing from our point of view. What’s not so good, though, is that they were beaten by Tranmere, 1-2. The club from the Wirral’s first win in absolutely ages pushed them into a position where they are three places higher than the Shrimps; five whole points better-off and have played one game fewer. Better news is that Swindon Town also lost – 2-0 at Notts County – and are just a single place higher in the table than Morecambe; four points better off but have also played one game more. Meanwhile, Accrington Stanley won away at Colchester by two goals to nil to put themselves just ahead of Tranmere with an otherwise identical record.”

As those of us – the team; media and a lot of fans – who were unfortunate to travel to the game know all too well, the original match – scheduled for Sunday, 5^th January – was postponed at the very last moment due to a pitch which had been unplayable for hours (and arguably days) before the abandonment.

A lot has changed since the original fixture was supposed to be played. In the Legion of the Damned, Ian Holloway has obviously had the Sage out again and has worked some sort of witchcraft to endure that Swindon Town have escaped from its clutches altogether in the few short weeks which have ensued. Carlisle have spent even further bucketsful of money – and find themselves worse off than ever, stuck at the very bottom of the EFL currently and without a Manager since disastrous Mike Williamson was sacked yesterday. Accrington’s plight has improved marginally but Tranmere continue to struggle in twenty-second place in League Two. Harrogate Town have basically done the reverse of Swindon in the time that has elapsed since January 5^th and are now also potential relegation candidates themselves. We need to also keep a weather eye out on Barrow, whose form this year has been poor with four losses and just one win in their last six league outings: they also seem to be on a downwards trajectory.

So where does that leave Morecambe? It leaves them next to the bottom of the division; just three points worse off than Tranmere with the same number of games played: 28. Newport, meanwhile, have continued to struggle. They have lost four of their last six league games, winning only one: last Saturday against Barrow at Rodney Parade when the Bluebirds’ Kyle Cameron was unlucky enough to score the only goal of the game for the Exiles, deflecting a cross from Cameron Antwi into his own net. County were seven points ahead of Morecambe prior to kick-off tonight but had played one game fewer The mood in south Wales, however, is generally not positive. The BBC canvassed opinion of the local fans recently and here are two fairly representative views of Chairman Huw Jenkins (formerly the Chairman of Swansea City who has a schoolboy goalkeeping cap for Wales) and Manager Nelson Jardim, who also has connections with the Swans:

“We are terrible from top to bottom. Huw Jenkins was supposed to come in and be our saviour, but it’s been a complete disaster. We’ve made poor signings and let our best players go, as well as employing a complete rookie as a manager. Now is the time to get a proven striker before this window closes and to get a real manager, otherwise it’s curtains unfortunately.”

“Jardim Out. I’ve had enough of him, he’s not good enough for League Two. He should go back to Swansea, we made a mistake giving him the job, the club need someone with experience and someone who knows the club and the league.”

So the Natives are Restless in south Wales. Further north, Morecambe’s continuing Soap Opera as far as their appalling ownership issues are concerned has meant an embargo from the EFL which has prevented Derek Adams from improving his squad until the eleventh hour, when it was suddenly lifted. But last Thursday – at the second time of asking – he was able to bring striker Andy Dallas from Barnsley to the Mazuma Mobile Stadium on-loan for the rest of the season. The Scottish forward immediately paid dividends, scoring two goals in his debut during the Shrimps’ 4-2 defeat of neighbours Fleetwood last Saturday. This was in a game when Marcus Dackers finally scored his first goal for the club and the other outfield signing of recent times – Callum Cooke – also played a starring role. Just before the Transfer Window was shuttered at midnight yesterday, there was a further – perhaps surprising – development. Ged Garner has signed on the dotted line as well until the end of the season from Barrow for the second year in a row. He didn’t exactly set the world on fire last time around and I personally got the impression that his commitment to the cause left an awful lot to be desired. But we have to remember that when he was here, Derek Adams wasn’t: the King was back up north upsetting the Natives – however briefly – with his typically forthright views on the poor general quality of the Scottish game. Presumably, Derek sees something in Garner which he thinks he can coach out of a man who has basically been a failure for Barrer ever since his record transfer to them from Fleetwood a couple of years ago. But whatever happens with Morecambe’s sudden glut of strikers (Lee Angol will be available for selection again next weekend), we need to remember that One Swallow doesn’t make a Summer. However, the mood among today’s travelling contingent was understandably buoyant as their team suddenly looks as if it might have the cutting edge it has been missing all season so far.

These were Derek Adams’ thoughts about the game twenty-four hours before it was due to be played:

“We’re three points away now and there’s only two matches being played tomorrow night. So it’s an opportunity for us to win the game and then get out of the zone and that’s what we’re trying to do – and we’ve given ourselves a great opportunity. We go to Newport on Tuesday night looking to get the three points to try and close the gap between ourselves and Newport as well.”

There was a threat of snow in south Wales today but the weather was dry as the game kicked-off. Shortly, though, the heavens opened and it truly threw it down during the first half.

Harry Burgoyne had to be on his toes – literally – to be able to tip a fierce shot from Joe Thomas over the bar in the second minute as the men in the amber strip opened brightly. But six minutes later, Thomas hit the back of the net as Harry was only able to parry Bobby Kamwa’s shot from distance and the County forward was quickest to react to turn the ball home. Yann Songo’o then came close to a quick equaliser when his cross-come-shot hit the bar with home goalkeeper Nick Townsend floundering after eleven minutes. Then Andy Dallas took aim with a shot from the edge of the box which was well blocked a minute later. Hallam Hope also hit the bar with a powerful header from a corner as he lurked about three years from the target and the goal at his mercy with almost a quarter of an hour played. Once more, Townsend was beaten but he got away with it again. With eighteen minutes on the clock, ex-Shrimps Old Boy Shane McLoughlin had a good chance for the Exiles but his low shot was narrowly wide of the goal. Then recent County loan signing from Peterborough – David Ajiboye – spun and shot to produce a good save from Harry with 22 minutes played. Newport also had the next half-chance three minutes later when Cameron Evans met Anthony Glennon’s cross but headed it wide.

At the other end, Captain Songo’o’s shot after just over a half an hour was blocked by the home defence. Then Thomas floated over a cross from the County right which found Courtney Baker-Richardson in the centre but his effort also missed the target. The Exiles conceded a succession of corners as the match grew older but these led to little threat to Townsend’s goal. So that was virtually that for the first half. Yet again, there was little to choose between the two teams with one all too familiar difference – Newport took the one good chance that presented itself to them; Morecambe – in the person of Hallam Hope and his close-range header – didn’t.

Morecambe had the first good chance of the second half when Callum Cooke’s corner was headed goalwards by Marcus Dackers only for Townsend to pull-off an excellent save. The visitors then started to put concerted pressure on the home team. Gwion Edwards replaced Hallam Hope after 53 minutes and his first contribution to the entertainment was a shot which went wide virtually as soon as he took to the field. As the home crowd fell almost completely quiet, Morecambe continued asking all the questions as the men in the amber shirts were pressed back into their own half for the first quarter of an hour or so. In a depressingly increasingly familiar development, though, the home goalkeeper then went down away from play with a mysterious injury, very conveniently allowing his team-mates a breather and their Manager a chance to re-organise his beleaguered team. Miraculously suddenly apparently completely recovered, however, Townsend was able to pull-off another excellent yet athletic save to keep out another good header from Marcus following a cross from Luke Hendrie with just 61 minutes played.

Newport managed to break the siege and had a couple of half chances of their own as an hour came and went. But next time Morecambe attacked, down went the home keeper again for a further prolonged period of treatment. Once he got up again, he pulled-off a brilliant double save from Dallas following a Cooke free-kick only for substitute Edwards to sweep the ball home to equalise with 79 minutes played. At the other end, Burgoyne did well to then immediately keep out an effort from Ajiboye after he had been played-in by Thomas. The ball was played down the other end of the pitch straight from this and Dackers had a gilt-edged chance to put the Shrimps ahead after 82 minutes but he hit his shot into the side netting instead of the back of the net. It was a costly miss. Within two minutes of conceding an equaliser, the hosts were ahead again. This time, Glennon picked-out Ajiboye, who coolly lifted the ball over Harry to make the score 2-1 to the Exiles.

They were kept in the game when their apparently badly injured goalkeeper pulled-off another phenomenal save to deny Edwards with only four minutes scheduled to play. Referee Carl Brooke – presumably mindful of the home goalkeeper’s antics in getting the game stopped on two occasions – added on an extra eight minutes. But it was to no avail from the visitors’ point of view and once again, they lost a game where there was very little to choose between the two teams.

Manager-less Carlisle did not play tonight and neither did any of Morecambe’s other closest rivals for the drop either. So the Shrimps not only wasted a rare chance to escape from the relegation places in League Two this evening but made their position in the mire even worse than ever. As Newport moved ten points ahead of them, the Shrimps found themselves still rooted just above Carlisle at the bottom of the division, a mere two points better off than them but with an extra game now played. Derek Adams’ men have thus played more games than all three teams closest to them in the table. What did he make of it this time?:

“At the end of the day, you have to be able to put the ball in the back of the net. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get past the goalkeeper tonight. He was outstanding; absolutely outstanding. You know when a team are up against it: their goalkeeper goes down not once but twice.  You know that, wasting time and coming across to the touchline to get tactics from their Manager – getting a breather, really to break up the game – you know that you’re really on top of the game. But we failed to get the three points today because we couldn’t get the ball in the net. We were the better team on the night – nobody can deny that.”

Newport County: 1 Nick Townsend; 3 Anthony Glennon; 4 Matt Baker; 5 James Clarke (C); 7 Bobby Kamwa (25 Kyle Hudlin 85’); 9 Courtney Baker-Richardson (8 Josh Martin 71’); 11 Cameron Antwi (Y); 12 Joe Thomas (23 Kyle Jameson 88’); 19 Shane McLoughlin; 26 Cameron Evans; 44 David Ajiboye.

Subs not used:  36 Lewis Webb; 21 Michael Spellman; 30 Noah Mawene; 32 Jaden Warner.

Morecambe:  1 Harry Burgoyne; 2 Luke Hendrie; 5 Max Taylor; 6 Jamie Stott (18 Ben Tollitt 90’); 8 Harvey Macadam; 9 Hallam Hope (7 Gwion Edwards 53’); 16 Andy Dallas; 19 Marcus Dackers; 20 Callum Cooke; 23 David Tutonda (Y) (3 Adam Lewis 64’); 24 Yann Songo’o (C) (17 Paul Lewis 90’).

Subs not used: 12 Ryan Schofield; 4 Tom White; 14 Rhys Williams.

Ref:  Carl Brooke.

Att: 3,831 (61 from Morecambe.)