LEAGUE TWO, TUESDAY 4th MARCH 2025.

No Resurrection for AFC Wimbledon tonight.

Well, the fixtures are rapidly running out and Morecambe find themselves with just thirteen left to somehow or other garner the twenty-four points to reach the magic total of fifty prescribed by Manager Derek Adams to salvage their so far very disappointing season. Things don’t look good – they have lost five of their last six games and on Saturday – in a match which could prove to be a turning point in the campaign – they went down really tamely against a team which hadn’t won for thirteen league games in the shape of Gillingham. Despite the Shrimps starting with three strikers, not one of them managed to get a shot off on goal and the host’s veteran goalkeeper Glenn Morris might as well have packed some sandwiches and a Thermos and had a picnic, so little did he have to do. They simply weren’t good enough to compete in League Two last Saturday and if they continue to perform as badly as they did then, they are dead certs to be relegated.

Today would be even more of a test, with high-flying AFC Wimbledon visiting the Lancashire seaside this evening.

The Wombles arrived in fifth place in League Two, having won two of their last six league games and lost just one – at home last Saturday to nearby rivals Bromley. Morecambe’s record against the Londoners is absolutely even: five wins; five losses and five draws in previous encounters. However, the real Dons walloped Morecambe in the reverse season at Plough Lane earlier this season by three goals to nil. After this defeat, King Derek came up with his familiar Mantra:

“I thought in the first half, we were very competitive. We stopped Wimbledon playing. We dealt really well with their set-plays. Up until their goal, it looked like an even contest. Second half, we went to two up-front and it didn’t really help us, which is disappointing. Wimbledon did better than us in the big moments. We’re trying our best.”

Unfortunately, too many teams are doing better than us in the big moments all season so far – and continue to do so. So would anything change tonight? The Manager remains very up-beat and said this prior to tonight’s clash:

“It’s a collective unit; the players; the management; the staff all in one. I think that’s how we’ve been successful over the years. It’s a football club that has stuck together and got places. That’s why we’re here fighting. We are fighting with Carlisle; we’re fighting with Tranmere – two clubs that have spent big money in the window – and we are fighting until the end. We’ve got a quarter of a season to go, which is great – and that’s really positive.”

For the visitors, Manager Johnnie Jackson said before the game:

“It’s a tough game. You look at it on paper: they’re where they are; we’re where we are – it looks like it should be a simple result. Definitely, football don’t work like that. I’ve watched enough of their games and they’re in a lot of games that they lost and they will think that they should have picked up a lot more points. It’s a difficult place to go. They’re going to make it hard. The pitch doesn’t look brilliant. They are going to do a lot of things to disrupt us and our rhythm. We have to deal with that test. We’ll be ready for it. What we have to do is try and really implement our style upon them. I think that’s something we can have learnt from previous away games in similar conditions – that we need to implement our style on proceedings but also deal with the way that they are going to play and the way they are going to try to stick it on us.”

It was dry but quite windy as the match kicked-off under clear dark skies in which, I was assured, it is possible to see all the planets in our solar system currently. That’s an unusual occurrence apparently.

What is an even more unusual occurrence was to see Morecambe actually win. But they did. Derek Adams took David Tutonda, Andy Dallas and Marcus Dackers out of his starting line-up and put Adam Lewis, Gwion Edwards and Ged Garner in from the start. I thought the team had a better shape tonight and when Paul Lewis unfortunately had to leave the field with an injury, replacement Tom White improved things markedly in my view.

The Shrimps looked lively right from the first kick of the game and asked most of the questions during the opening twenty minutes or so. Adam Lewis took a free-kick after three minutes which Jamie Stott headed back into the danger area only for the Wombles to clear. Ged Garner then put an effort over the bar following good play on the wing by Luke Hendrie two minutes later. Alistair Smith had one of few shots on goal this evening for the visitors after six minutes but his tame effort from a long way out was easily gathered by Harry Burgoyne in the home goal. There were half-hearted appeals for a penalty when Garner fell over in the penalty area shortly afterwards and then Harry was forced to turn a shot from Josh Neufville away for a corner to the Dons with sixteen minutes on the clock. From this, the Shrimps broke away and visiting goalkeeper Owen Goodman was all at sea as he flapped at a cross from the Morecambe left and connected weakly only to see the ball recycled to Adam Lewis who put in a perfect cross from the left to Captain Yann Songo’o at the far post. He headed it back into the path of Lee Angol who in turn smashed it into the roof of the net to put Morecambe a goal to the good after twenty minutes. Full-backs Hendrie and Lewis were both involved with almost forty minutes played with the result that Garner headed another effort just wide of the target. Then the half ended with an effort from Gwion Edwards being deflected wide for a corner in injury time.

So the Shrimps enjoyed their break in the unusual position of actually being in the lead tonight. They were good value for it because they had been the better side and played more effective football than the Londoners in the Play-Off positions.

The second half followed a similar pattern. Johnnie Johnson used his full complement of substitutes to little effect and there was a degree of desperation in Wimbledon’s play as the match grew older and was clearly slipping away from them. There weren’t many chances for either side and neither goalkeeper was really tested during the second period. The Dons won a number of corners later in the game which came to nothing but they never really looked like scoring tonight and I thought that the Shrimps were good value for their three points all the way through the match.

So there was no Resurrection for AFC Wimbledon in Morecambe tonight. Despite the loss, the Wombles are still fifth in the division. Personally – knowing the history of the club – I would like to see them win promotion. So good luck to the real Dons for the rest of the season.

If Morecambe continue to play like they did this evening, they won’t need any luck to stay in the division. Who would believe that basically the same players who performed so appallingly last Saturday in Kent could actually do this?

Elsewhere tonight, Carlisle fell behind to Walsall in Cumbria but the game there finally ended 1-1. So United remain two points behind us at the very bottom of the EFL, albeit with a game in hand. Tranmere, meanwhile, were actually winning at one point at Grimsby but the game there also ended one each. That point was enough to keep the manager-less club from the Wirral a single point above Morecambe in twenty-second position in League Two with the same number of games played. So it’s still all to play for as Morecambe visit another club with no manager anymore in the shape of the plastic Dons of Milton Keynes next Saturday.

This is what the King of Morecambe said after tonight’s match:

“The performance was excellent. The team spirit; the way that they pressed; the way they harried – I think, over the ninety minutes – it was a really big win for us.”

Morecambe:   1 Harry Burgoyne; 2 Luke Hendrie (22 Ross Millen 59’); 3 Adam Lewis (Y); 5 Max Taylor; 6 Jamie Stott; 7 Gwion Edwards; 8 Harvey Macadam (20 Callum Cooke 81’); 10 Lee Angol (19 Marcus Dackers 82’); (64’); 17 Paul Lewis (4 Tom White 38’); (87’); 24 Yann Songo’o (C); 33 Ged Garner (16 Andy Dallas 81’).

Subs not used:  11 Jordan Slew; 18 Ben Tollitt.

AFC Wimbledon: 1 Owen Goodman; 3 James Furlong (29 Aron Sasu 64’); 4 Jake Reeves (C); 6 Ryan Johnson; 8 Callum Maycock (18 Marcus Browne 65’); 10 Josh Kelly (9 Omar Bugiel 75’); 11 Josh Neufville; 12 Alistair Smith (7 James Tilley (Y) 84’); 31 Joe Lewis; 39 Joe Piggott (14 Matthew Stevens 65’); 41 Sam Hutchinson (Y).

Subs not used: 22 Lewis Moore Ward; 33 Isaac Ogundere. 

Ref: Adam Herczog..

Att: 2,488 (98 from Wimbledon – safe journey home to each and every one of them.)