ENTERPRISE NATIONAL LEAGUE. SATURDAY, 4th OCTOBER 2025.

Gwion Steadies the Ship at Tamworth.

Morecambe travelled to Staffordshire today to face a team in the lowest of the Play-Off Positions (seventh) in the National League: Tamworth. The Lambs are unbeaten in their last five league games and battled back to win 1-2 at Altrincham last Wednesday, having initially fallen behind.

By stark contrast, Morecambe started today’s match bottom of the table, having lost their last three games and conceded ten goals in their last two outings. On Tuesday night, they found themselves four-nil down at home to Gateshead after just twelve minutes and were booed off the field after a performance which was simply not acceptable and needs to improve dramatically if the club are not to be relegated this term.

So what do we know about today’s hosts? This is what I wrote about them in my National League Review on this site earlier this year:

Tamworth FC was founded in 1933 as a result of the demise the small town’s main football team – Tamworth Castle FC.  They moved to their current stadium – The Lamb Ground (which can be found135 miles from the Mazuma Mobile Stadium) a year later.

Tamworth was once a small but historic Staffordshire market town which was the capital of Mercia many, many moons ago. It remained fairly unremarkable during the first part of the Twentieth Century but – although not officially a `New Town’, it experienced rapid growth during the 1960s as its population more than trebled from 13,000 people to 40,000 by 1971.

Initially, Tamworth FC played in the local Birmingham Combination but – having become Champions of the Birmingham & District League North after two seasons in it during 1956 – were promoted to spend six seasons in the Birmingham & District League, first in Division 2 for a year followed by five in Division 1. When the Birmingham & District League was re-named the West Midlands League in 1962, it took the Lambs just two seasons to be promoted to its Premier Division. They reached the Second Round Proper of the FA Cup twice at this time and made headlines when they took their first Football League scalp with a 2-1 home win against Torquay United at this stage of the competition in November 1969. Tamworth then won the league during 1972 and transferred their membership to the Southern League Division One North. Then they spent four seasons in the Northern Premier League between 1979 and 1983. But by this time a club seemingly on the up started encountering serious financial difficulties. Home attendances fell to record levels and their Lamb ground became quite dilapidated. Their opening season in the Southern League Midland Division saw the club’s first ever relegation in 1984. They rejoined the West Midlands League (Premier Division) as a result but the move generated changes in the club’s structure and their fortunes on and off the field started going on an upwards trajectory once more.  After four years, they won the West Midlands League (Premier Division) to re-join the Southern League Midland Division. Still with me? – blimey, talk about a club that never stays still!

In 1989, they reached the FA Vase (a competition aimed primarily at former amateur football clubs) Final at Wembley and won it against Sudbury Town following a replay at Peterborough. A runners-up spot in the Southern League Midland Division during 2003 was followed by an appearance in the FA Trophy Final at Villa Park in nearby Brum: they lost to Burscough 2-1. However, they then won the Southern League Midland Division a year later with an astonishing 26 point margin over all the others. Their reward was a place in the Football Conference during 2004.

Tamworth then drew at home in a Staffordshire derby against Stoke City in the FA Cup Third Round only to lose the replay after penalties during the 2005-6 season. In January 2007, they lost 0-4 in an FA Cup game against Championship Norwich City which was televised live from The Lamb. Later in the season, thought, they were relegated back to the Football Conference North. They bounced-back again as Champions in 2010 only to slip out again four years later and find themselves back in the Southern League Premier Division Central for five seasons, including two which were abandoned due to the Covid pandemic. They won this division during 2023 and then immediately won the National League North as well to find themselves where they are now.

Phew! – what a journey!

Last season, they finished tenth in the National League. They also beat EFL Huddersfield Town and then Burton Albion in the First and second Rounds of the FA Cup before holding Premiership Spurs to a 0-0 draw at home in the Third. (Tottenham eventually won 0-3 in extra time.)

Once again, I don’t have reliable statistics for head-to-head clashes between the Lambs and Morecambe FC. The best I can do is tell you that they have met five times since 2004 and the Shrimps have won two of them; Tamworth none.

Maybe two or three players have performed for both clubs but probably the most significant of these is former Liverpool and Welsh goalkeeper Danny Ward, however briefly.

Tamworth will play hosts to Morecambe on Saturday, 4^h October 2025.  They will then travel to Lancashire for a night match on Tuesday, 10^th February 2026; KIck-Off at 1945hrs.

Following the debacle against Gateshead last Tuesday, Manager Ashvir Singh Johal has a lot to prove. I thought it might be very instructive to hear what he had to say prior to today’s fixture but I can’t find any update on the shell-shocked interview he gave after the Gateshead hammering. There’s nothing on the club’s website; Morecambe X; Radio Lancashire Sport or any of the other outlets on which you would always find Derek Adams facing the music last season, however dire the situation at the club was at the time. Presumably, he hoped that his players would say everything that had to be said on the pitch this afternoon.

But would they?…

The defence could barely be any worse than it was against Gateshead on Tuesday and the return of Maldini Calcurri to the centre of it today after suspension must have been an upgrade – providing that the Arsenal loanee didn’t get sent off again, of course. Up-front, the perennially disappointing Harrison Panayiotou was relegated to the bench this afternoon to be replaced by Ben Tollitt in the Centre Forward berth and Gwion Edwards also took his place in the starting line-up at the cost of Rolando Aarons, who didn’t feature in the squad at all. Skipper Yann Songo’o was pushed a bit further upfield than usual and Ludwig Francillette was brought back to play alongside Calcurri in the middle of the defence as midfielder Jake Cain found himself at Full-Back today.

As Storm Amy had been playing havoc in north Lancashire (no main-line trains beyond Preston going north today for instance) over the last couple of days, Staffordshire has got off relatively lightly.  Although it was windy and had been wet when the game kicked-off on the Lamb’s (fairly threadbare) artificial pitch, there was no sign of any Monsoon-like rains of the sort which swept across Morecambe and its environs yesterday.

Tamworth won a free-kick on a promising position with just over a minute played. But Archie Mair in the away goal saved it without any problems. He was a bit lucky, though, when he totally misjudged a phenomenally long throw from not-so-Secret Weapon Tommy Tonka – sorry; Tom Tonks – after about five minutes. after about five minutes, flapping at the ball as it sailed way over him – but fortunately over the attacking players – even the extraordinarily tall Manny Duku.

Morecambe’s first good chance fell to Jack Nolan – who had already impressed with some clever early wing-play out on the Morecambe right. He just missed the target to home stopper with a shot from distance to Hone stopper and Skipper Jasbir Singh’s right after good interplay between Miguel Azeez and Ben Tollitt with seven minutes on the clock.

Tamworth had a chance after a quarter of an hour when their huge players gathered in the centre from a free-kick conceded by Miguel Azeez on the Morecambe left. The ball ran through to Alfie Bates, who ran-in at the far post but his instant shot went wide of the target.

There were no good chances for either side from that point on until the half-hour mark although both Tollitt and Edwards had attempts on goal after 20 and 24 minutes respectively. Ben’s was wide of the target; Gwion’s was deflected away for a corner. But Morecambe looked better-organised than they have done in recent times and probably marginally dominated the play. Archie made a weak punch just after this juncture from another monster throw by Tonks which was immediately struck back towards his goal by a Tamworth player but fortunately missed from the visitors’ point of view. He really needs to stop doing things like this.

Rain swept across the plastic pitch from time to time but half-time saw Morecambe holding their own and the teams returned to the Dressing Rooms with the match scoreless.

Tamworth had the first chance of the second half. In the forty-eighth minute, Tonks found himself making progress towards the away penalty area and took a shot from which curled only just wide of Mair’s goal with the keeper a mere spectator. Gwion took another shot after 52 minutes but home stopper Jaz Singh fielded it without any trouble.

As the away fans belatedly changed ends and the sun came out briefly, the stalemate continued. The Lambs’ Manager – Andy Peaks – made two changes after an hour but the visitors had the next chance when Gwion started a smart counter-attack in the 63^rd minute and then finished it with a poor shot which didn’t trouble the home keeper. But another massive long throw from Tonks was directed into the net by substitute Jordan Ponticelli with an acrobatic finish after the away defence had failed to clear it with 66 minutes on the clock. Nobody in the Morecambe side appealed for a foul but Referee Paul Johnson disallowed it for whatever reason. Singh then had another easy save from Elijah Dixon-Bonner with about twenty minutes left to play. But danger man Gwion Edwards scored for the visitors with just a quarter of an hour left. He received the ball on the half-way line and ran towards the Tamworth goal as Lambs’ defenders simply couldn’t catch him. Tollitt did well to create a diversion by holding his position in the middle, allowed Gwion to find a gap and fire home from about fifteen yards. It was a tremendous finish from the Welsh Wizard.

But – as is so often the case this season – the Shrimps couldn’t hold onto the lead. Payne was forced into conceding an unnecessary corner in the 79^th minute from which substitute Benjamin Milnes put in a perfect cross for Kennedy Digie to head the ball home.

As the home crowd belatedly came to life, Tamworth asked a few more questions after that. But Morecambe could – and should – have pinched all three points in the fifth minute of injury time when Tollitt had a chance put on a plate for him by a cross which found him running directly at the home goal from the Morecambe left. But he somehow contrived to strike the ball wide instead of passing to a much better-placed Nolan – who made his displeasure known to his team-mate in no uncertain terms.

So it ended one-each, with Morecambe still bottom of the table due to Truro’s 2-2 draw at Woking. They are five points from safety but still have three games in hand on all of their fellow members of the Legion of the Doomed. Tamworth, meanwhile, fell two places to ninth.

Ash Johal has arguably made a rod for his own back by predicting that his team would be fit, clicking and winning by the end of this month. The clock is now ticking: the end of October is less than four weeks away currently. As far as today’s performance is concerned, could we really see any discernible improvement?

The answer is indisputably: yes. Did his players say everything that had to be said on the pitch this afternoon? Yes, they did. Although they gave away a poor goal and looked panic-stricken at moments, the defence coped really well for most of the game against a good side. Archie had his moments again but he probably has good reason to be hesitant at times with the experiences – including being regularly exposed  by his team-mates – which he has endured during the last two games in particular.

Going forward, though, all Morecambe teams have looked better whenever Gwion Edwards has featured – initially for Ged Garner; later for King Derek and now – despite all the New Blood – for Ashvir. Ben Tollitt is a winger, really, but his form has been better with the new Manager in charge than it ever was in League Two. Jack Nolan was well-marked today and more or less stifled but he is always a threat. The two main problems for the team at the moment – in my humble opinion – are self-belief on the one hand and consistency on the other.

But what did the man whose opinion really matters make of today’s performance? This is what Ash said after the game:

“We knew it was going to be a very difficult game; maybe one of the most difficult games we have played so far.  They’ve only lost one of their last ten and this is a very difficult place to come and play football. They’re a very organised team; they’ve got some very good players. It was a real defensive challenge for us. We’ve made a real concentrated effort in the last few days to work on our defending. (It was) a really good goal from Gwion. I’m pleased for him. Since I’ve come in, he’s been one of the people who’s been a real leader in the Dressing Room. Alongside Yann, he’s been part of our leadership group. We know what we can be if we work hard, but also focus on the things we need to focus on. We’re still a work in progress.”

Finally – thank you so much for the pictures to Neil Palmer.

Tamworth: 1 Jasbir Singh (C); 5 Kennedy Digie; 4 Tom Tonks (27 Oliver Lynch 77’); 6 Alfie Bates; 7 Harvey Sayer (31 Ronan Maher 61’); 9 Manny Duku (14 Stefan Mols77’); 11 Luke Fairlamb; 15 Kwaku Donkor; 16 Joe Riley (38 Jordan Ponticelli 61’); 19 Thomas McGlinchey (8 Benjamin Milnes 77’); 26 Haydn Hollis.

Subs not used:  12 Joseph Rye; 18 Jordan Cullinane-Liburd.

Morecambe: 1 Archie Mair; 2 Lewis Payne; 5 Maldini Calcurri; 6 Ludwig Francillette; 7 Gwion Edwards (Y) (28 Emmerson Sutton 86’); 8 Miguel Azeez; 10 Jake Cain (Y); 18 Ben Tollitt 9 Harrison Panayiotou 99’); 24 Yann Songo’s (C); 29 Elijah Dixon-Bonner (33 Arjan Raikhy 89’); 36 Jack Nolan (Y).

Subs not used: 35 Harry Ascroft; 14 Alie Sesay; 19 Ma’kel Campbell; 20 Mo Sangare.

Ref: Paul Johnson.

Att: 1,253 (249 from Morecambe.)