MK Plastics 2:1 Morecambe.

LEAGUE TWO. SATURDAY, 8^th MARCH 2025.

MK Double Delight as their Hoodoo over Morecambe continues.

Morecambe deservedly beat AFC Wimbledon last Tuesday night at the Maz by the only goal of the game. AFC are the authentic – and only – Dons in the entire Football League. Today, though, the Shrimps travelled to a plastic version of the same club which was once allowed to steal the original Crazy Gang’s very identity lock, stock and barrel by the footballing authorities in this country in a dodgy deal that has been a stain on the Beautiful Game in this country for the last two decades. To repeat what I wrote before the reverse fixture in Lancashire earlier in the season:

The only people who came out of the scandal of 2004 with any credit were those committed Crazy Gang supporters who refused to accept the sacrifice of their club in order to create a completely new one. So they did what the outfit from Milton Keynes have never had to do – started all over again at the lowest tier of English football and worked themselves, year by year; league by league; stadium by stadium back into the EFL and – finally – a new ground on totemic Plough Lane. On September 14^th last, the frauds faced the club whose identity it once stole in a League Two fixture at this venue. So not just AFC Wimbledon supporters but anyone with any sense of natural justice will have been delighted by the result – 3-0 to the Wombles. Since then, we all know the further misfortune AFC Wimbledon have faced, with the flooding of their ground; collapse of the pitch and all the other expense this has meant for them. And what has MK’s contribution been to making some recompense for the shameful way they originally stole this club’s identity? This latest calamity doesn’t even merit a mention on the club’s own website. Shame on them – but it’s hardly a surprise with an outfit as despicable as this one has always been.

Since then, AFC Wimbledon – fifth in League Two at the start of play today – have also dumped their doppelganger out of the FA Cup, this time at the Plastic People’s ridiculously oversized stadium. Well done to them and everyone in west London who refused to accept the fate of their original club as decided by the FA, the EFL – and shed loads of filthy lucre.

Today, MK Frauds started their game against Morecambe in eighteenth position in the table, their hopes of improving on last year’s performance – when they reached the Play-Off Semi-Finals – lying in ruins. Then, the club which bought its way into the elite of English football were taken apart by Crawley home and away; losing 3-0 in Surrey and then being marmalised 1-5 at home to produce an aggregate of 8-1. No club anywhere is more deserving of it and we must thank Milton Keynes Cuckoos for taking off us an unwanted statistic as far as record defeats in Play-Off matches is concerned. Crawley (like ourselves and every other team in the EFL except the Plastics) have got to the position they currently occupy – a place in League One – the hard way. But Milton Keynes haven’t. Their reaction to their defeat by Crawley was to dump the man they had previously tempted away from Gateshead to take them to the Play-Offs in the first place and offer a huge pay packet to the one who had masterminded their record defeat to jump ship. But – to prove that just throwing money at things in the way MK Plastics always have doesn’t always work, Scott Lindsey was also sacked by them last month after a disastrous run of results. Tee hee. They haven’t won for seven games and have lost five of their last six. Additionally, they have not scored even one goal in their own stadium since last November.

That said, Morecambe have an exceptionally poor record against the Frauds: twelve games played; just two wins and a massive nine losses, including a 1-3 defeat in the reverse fixture in Lancashire earlier this campaign.

But enough about cheats and frauds. Our very own authentic King Derek would have been worried this week by the ever-growing list of serious injuries to his small squad. Luke Hendrie, Paul Lewis and Harvey Macadam all limped off the field with what looked like potentially serious problems last Tuesday night to add to long-term absentees George Ray, Callum Jones and Stuart Moore plus recent recruit to the Treatment Table, Ryan Schofield. The Manager is anxiously awaiting results of the scans they have all had to undergo to see when they might be available for selection again. Today, in their absence, he  started without a reserve goalkeeper once more but promoted full-back Nathan Snowball to the bench for the first time in a league game.

As far as Morecambe’s latest opponents are concerned, Mr Adams added that he expected MK to have most of the possession but hoped to hit them on the break:

“We know their style of play. They had 71% possession the other night against Accrington but Accrington won the game two-nil. It shows you the type of team that they are. You only have to look at Liverpool the other night: they took a battering against PSG but they had two shots on goal and one went in.”

Morecambe emerged into an eerily empty stadium with its huge swathes of empty seats to sunshine and an almost balmy temperature of about 18ᵒC.

The hosts had the first good chance of the game when they carved open the visiting defence after five minutes, allowing Skipper Alex Gilbey to force a fine save from Harry Burgoyne at the cost of a corner which came to nothing. Morecambe then tested home keeper Connal Trueman after thirteen minutes when a completely unmarked Callum Cooke took a fierce shot from the edge of the box which was really well saved. Nico Lawrence then headed a corner narrowly over the Shrimps’ bar from a corner with eighteen minutes played. Danilo Orsi came closer with 25 minutes on the clock when – prompted by the ever-busy ex-Morecambe man Daniel Crowley and a brilliant effort by Luke Offord to keep a ball heading for touch in play – he put a first-time shot into the side netting when he might have done better. Orsi also had the next effort for the home team as Harry again excellently kept out his swerving shot at full stretch with 35 minutes played, Straight away, Cooke found Lee Angol on the break; he got away from the MK back line and was taken down by Trueman as he tried to take the ball around him. Lee dusted himself down and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way from the resulting penalty to put the visitors one goal to the good with an assured finish.  Sadly though, they couldn’t hold onto the lead until half time. In the fortieth minute, Adam Lewis conceded a cheap free-kick; Crowley took it and delivered a perfect cross for Offord to head home MK’s first home goal of the year at this venue. So it was 1-1 at half time with the game going the way the Morecambe Manager had predicted: his men conceding the bulk of the possession but scoring on the counter-attack.

There were no changes for either side at the break. As individual voices in the crowd continued to be clearly heard as they echoed around the empty space, Connor Lemonheigh-Evans was booked for a foul on Cooke early doors. Callum took the resultant few-kick from a promising position but completely wasted it. Then the Plastics came close again after 55 minutes when Joe White put another shot into the side netting. They turned the match on its head with 65 minutes played, though. The former Crawley man Orsi – on-loan from Burton Albion – was quickest to react after Harry had managed to parry a shot from Gilbey and cleverly lifted the ball over the visiting keeper before he could fully regain his feet.

Derek shook things up after seventy minutes and replacement Ben Tollitt had a golden opportunity to equalise with his first touch as Lewis slung in a perfect cross to him. But Ben was far too slow to react and a Plastics defender was able to clear the danger. Jamie Stott then headed Cooke’s cross wide with 77 minutes played before sub Tommi O’Reilly came close for the hosts with another shot which missed the target. Then – guess what? – as Morecambe started to apply some concerted pressure on the Plastics, their goalkeeper suddenly went down off the ball with yet another mysterious injury. The Frauds took the cue to re-organise and their management team shook things up with a couple of substitutions as Trueman made a sadly predictable miraculous recovery on the field. Replacement Jordan Slew headed over the crossbar in injury time but that was as good as it got for the Shrimps after they fell behind.  So that was it – yet another defeat against a team with a really poor record in recent times – and not a single shot on target in the second half, where Morecambe too often relied on just hoofing the ball forwards instead of playing with any sort of purpose.

So it’s one step forwards; one step backwards yet again for the Shrimps this afternoon. They had a record of never having lost any game having taken the lead. But that went up in smoke today. Just before half time, they were out of the relegation pack as both Tranmere and Carlisle were drawing. But Rovers finally beat Bromley by the odd goal in three to put themselves four points ahead of the lacklustre Shrimps this evening. At the very bottom of the EFL, though, Carlisle lost yet again as well: by the only goal of the game at Harrogate, which keeps them two points behind Derek Adams’ men, albeit with a game in hand. So how did Derek try to find a silver lining from the second half dross this evening? This is what he said:

“A very good performance; excellent actually the way that we pressed MK Dons today all over the pitch. We made them make mistakes. They’re one of the favourites for the division; they’re a big club; they’ve got three times the budget that we’ve got. We worked ever so hard. I can’t ask any more of my players – they gave their best. Today, we’ve come up against a side that is full of talented players. They shouldn’t be where they are in the league. Our players gave their all today.”

MK Plastics: 1 Connal Trueman (Y); 8 Alex Gilbey (C); 11 Daniel Crowley (29 Scott Hogan 83’); 14 Joe Tomlinson; 16 Aaron Nemane; 17 Luke Offord; 21 Danilo Orsi (10 Liam Kelly 83’); 23 Laurence McGuire (18 Tommi O’Reilly 77’); 24 Connor Lemonheigh-Evans (Y) (42 Jay Williams 70’); 26 Nico Lawrence (Y); 27 Joe White (35 Charlie Waller 77’).

Subs not used:  15 Craig MacGillivray; 66 Travis Patterson.

Morecambe:   1 Harry Burgoyne; 22 Ross Millen; 3 Adam Lewis; 4 Tom White; 5 Max Taylor (Y) (14 Rhys Williams 70’); 6 Jamie Stott; 7 Gwion Edwards (11 Jordan Slew 70’); 10 Lee Angol (18 Ben Tollitt 70’); 20 Callum Cooke (16 Andy Dallas 89’); 24 Yann Songo’o (C); 33 Ged Garner (19 Marcus Dackers 80’).

Subs not used: 31 Nathan Snowball; 9 Hallam Hope.

Ref: Martin Woods.

Att: 5,718 (115 from Morecambe.)

Oh – and to take us back to where we started: