ENTERPRISE NATIONAL LEAGUE. TUESDAY, 18th NOVEMBER 2025.

…What More can we ask?

The extra game of three which Morecambe has had over its rivals as a result of its late start to the season would be used-up tonight as the statistically worst supported club (average home gate last season just 887) in the National League paid a visit for the very first time. Not many people know a lot about Brackley Town – or could find the place on a map –  so here is my attempt to enlighten us all from the Review of NL Rivals which I wrote earlier in the year:

Ask your average football fan which teams play at St James Park and you will usually be told: “Newcastle United” followed by the more enlightened among us with “Exeter City”. But another St James Park – Brackley Town’s home turf – can be found precisely 189 miles south from the Mazuma Mobile Stadium in deepest, darkest Northamptonshire, close to the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire borders. Brackley is a small rural town of just over sixteen thousand people which once became prosperous on the basis of the wool trade provided by the sheep farming that was centred on the locality. Brackley Town – known as “The Saints” simply because of the association with the name of their stadium – was founded eons ago in 1890 and not a lot happened during the first century or so of their existence. There were regular promotions and relegations in the Southern; Hellenic; United Counties and various other leagues until they were finally promoted to the National League North during 2012. Two years later, they reached the First Round Proper of the FA Cup for only the second time ever but took their first EFL scalp with a replay win over Gillingham by the only goal of the game following a 1-1 draw at Priestfield.

The club won the FA Trophy at Wembley seven years ago by beating Bromley 5-4 after Extra Time and penalties once the game ended 1-1. This success was followed by lots of near misses as far as winning promotion to the  National League was concerned, losing on four occasions in the Play-Offs to Harrogate Town in 2018; York City in 2022; Kidderminster Harriers a year later and then Boston United in 2024. But at the end of last season, the Saints managed to win National League North outright and the coming campaign will be the beginning of the club’s adventure in the highest ever position in the English football pyramid they have ever inhabited.

Perhaps surprisingly – given Brackley’s status as relative minnows over the last few decades and the fact that the two clubs’ paths have never crossed competitively – there are a few players who have played for both our clubs, most notably Justin Jackson and Carl Baker.

Morecambe’s opening home game of the season should have been against Brackley Town on Saturday, 16^th August 2025.  But thanks to that (expletive deleted) Whittingham, it couldn’t be. It will now happen on Tuesday, 18^th November; k.o. 1945hrs. The Shrimps will then travel to St James Park just over three weeks later: on Saturday, 13^th December 2025.

Brackley may be rock bottom of the NL core support league, but they are beating us as far as the league position which really matters is concerned. (OK – only Truro City weren’t, prior to the game – fair point.) The Saints arrived level on games played (18) with the Shrimps but with seven more points: 20 (as opposed to Morecambe’s pathetic 13) which placed them fairly comfortably in seventeenth spot in the league table. Although Brackley are still in the FA Cup (they will host Burton Albion in a couple of weeks’ time), they have lost four of their last six NL games and won just one. Last time out, they were defeated again 2-1 at Altrincham in a pretty feisty game which saw four of their players booked and Manager Gavin Cowan sent to the stands after just half an hour. So Brackley is struggling a bit and is precisely the sort of club that Morecambe should be beating.

But would they? Ashvir Singh Johal’s men haven’t won any sort of game for over four matches and have this single victory plus two draws to show for their last six league fixtures. Their performance against the mighty York City on Saturday, though, had its bright spots and if a stronger Referee had sent off two of York’s players as he should have – one of them their goalkeeper after 22 minutes – who knows what might have happened?

But that was then and this is now. No doubt Ash spoke positively about his team’s prospects tonight in the pre-recorded drivel pumped out by the club which masquerades as an interview. However, deeds speak far louder than words and all Shrimps’ supporters would be hoping that Ash’s team would do their talking on the pitch tonight.

They would have to do so without Miguel Azeez who was suspended after being dismissed for a professional foul at York and Joe Nuttall was not deemed sufficiently fit to be named in the squad after being injured in the same game. Gwion Edwards – passed as  fit enough to play – and Jack Nolan started along with Ludwig Francillette in defence as Lewis Payne was dropped to the bench.

It was dry with very little wind but quite cold before and during the game.

There wasn’t a lot of goalmouth action but Morecambe dominated the first period, which was played almost entirely in the away team’s half. There was a lot of tippy-tappy football early doors by Morecambe but – with the home crowd constantly urging individual players to shoot and being ignored, very few efforts on goal. Finally, though,  Jack Nolan showed both that he wasn’t afraid to shoot and that he knows how to do it with a superb strike from distance after 25 minutes which comprehensively beat Jonny Maxted low to his left in the Brackley goal to give Ash’s men a deserved lead.

After that, not much changed in the first half. The Shrimps continued to ask most of the questions but there were no more clear-cut chances for either team.

In the second half, though, the momentum swung to the visitors. Morecambe started to get all the things they had been getting right – a high press; accurate passing and a clear plan of how to play – completely wrong. For a period of almost fifteen minutes, they were a complete shambles as the men in the yellow strips started to not only take control of the game but also to restrict it to the home team’s half.

As we have seen, Brackley is in predominantly a farming area. So it’s appropriate that they play quite agricultural football. There was a female Referee – Melissa Burgin – in charge tonight. And she did not acquit herself well. Although she was let-down by the two men running the line, she made far too many poor decisions.

It became very clear after a while that Brackley players were constantly getting into her face and the pressure from them grew as the match got older. So there was a bizarre moment after she had decided to disallow an equaliser by the visitors after 59 minutes. It wasn’t clear why she did this at the time. But as Morecambe fans collectively sighed with relief – because the `goal’ had been looking inevitable for quite a while – the Ref basically lost control. She should have booked the leading men in the yellow shirts who were trying to intimidate her after the decision. But instead of doing so or simply telling them to get on with it, she stood in front of the goal for several minutes before deciding to walk to the touch-line and presumably explain to visiting Manager Gavin Cowan why she had chalked-off the goal.

It would appear that she had accepted her linesman’s decision that Shane Byrne was off-side when he put the ball in the net. She could have told him this after the game – there was no need for a five-minute stoppage.

But the way the intimidation worked emboldened the not so saintly `Saints’ to up the ante with the woman with the whistle and although this is a poor photo, it gives some idea of how many men in yellow had surrounded the Ref shortly afterwards: only the turquoise part of the top of her shirt being visible as Brackley players still crowded around her despite being obliged to retreat after conceding the free-kick she had just awarded to Morecambe.

This would have been in the sixty-seventh minute. By this time, the scare with the disallowed goal seemed to also have knocked some sense into the Shrimps’ squad and they had gradually been taking back the initiative once more.

Anyway – Jake Cain took the free-kick and forced Maxted into a save but the big goalkeeper could only push the ball back into play and a determined Maldini Calcurri reached the ball first and fairly hammered it into the back of the net.

And that was basically that. This game will not live long in the memory. But what will is: 1) Morecambe gained an absolutely precious three points; 2) for only the second time this season, Ashvir’s squad kept a clean sheet; 3) the absolutely vital game-in-hand saw them go level on points with Braintree and Sutton United, who lie above them only on goal difference.

Brackley stay in seventeenth place but are now only four points better-off than us – it’s tight at the bottom of the National League.

So it could hardly have gone any better tonight really. This is what a clearly delighted Ashvir Singh Johal thought of it at the end of proceedings. He couldn’t resist enthusing about `the process’ but added:

“Full credit to every single player and member of staff. It was a great performance. It’s got to become the norm. We’ve got to make sure now that it’s not a one-time performance and that level of solidity and solidarity and hard work – we take it Saturday again.”

Morecambe:  40 Jamal Blackman; 5 Maldini Calcurri; 6 Ludwig Francillette;7 Gwion Edwards (Y)(19 Ma’Kel Bogle-Campbell 82’); 10 Jake Cain (33 Arjan Raikhy 94’); 11 Admiral Muskwe (Y) (2 Lewis Payne 97’); 18 Ben Tollitt; 20 Mo Sangare; 24 Yann Songo’o (C); 28 Emmerson Sutton (9 Harrison Panayiotou 96’); 36 Jack Nolan.

Subs not used: 1 Archie Mair; 12 Rolando Aarons; 14 Alie Sesay.  

Brackley Town: 1 Jonny Maxted; 2 Tyler Lyttle; 3 Riccardo Calder; 6 Gareth Dean (C); 7 Scott Pollock (8 Zak Brown 83’); 10 Morgan Roberts; 11 Matt Lowe; 12 Michael Nottingham (24 Callum Stewart 74’); 19 Zak Lilly (5 Kyle Morrison 10’); 23 Shane Byrne; 27 Connor Hall (14 Danny Waldron 82’).

Subs not used: 21 Cameron Gregory; 4 Jack Price; 37 Ryan Haynes.

Ref: Melissa Burgin.

Att: 2,231 (30 from Brackley.)