ENTERPRISE NATIONAL LEAGUE. SATURDAY, 17th JANUARY 2026.

Belated point against Scunny.

Before we start, a quick update. I published the following plea to Morecambe FC Chairman Kuljit Singh Momi last Wednesday night:

What’s happened to the promises?

I asked for this on behalf of all of us – but the plea seems to have fallen on deaf ears. As I was writing it, a Fans’ Forum was being held at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium. So let’s rewind about four weeks and look at what Mr Momi said about this at that time:

“We will engage directly with fans at the Forum in January. This is your club, and you deserve clarity, honesty and a plan you can believe in.”

So where was he? Where was the Manager, Ashvir Singh Johal? The only person with the courage to show their faces from the Panjab Warriors at the Forum was Ropinder Singh, who is apparently the CEO of the club but not a member of the Board of Directors at Morecambe.

(We need to remind ourselves that former Director of Communications Gurpreet Singh Rehal was not a Director of the club either. Can any of us remember what happened to him – or why?…)

So what does that say about Mr Momi’s genuine commitment to the `clarity and honesty` which he tells us we all `deserve’? Personally, I think it says it all…

Anyway, I had the delight of almost literally bumping into Morecambe’s elusive owner as I was going into the stadium earlier. He had just parked his top-of-the-range Porsche with its personalised registration as I blundered across him. I took the opportunity to ask him this simple question:

“Are you going to sack the Manager?”

He looked astonished.

Whether this was the bluntness of the question; the absurdity (in his view at least) of suggesting such heresy or simply the fact that some random old bloke wearing a Shrimps’ shirt had asked it, I can’t tell you. But I can tell you how he responded. He looked down at me – my, he’s a big lad – and smiled inscrutably before saying, with a twinkle in his eye:

“We are looking at him!”

Sadly – and I would be the first to admit that this is not exactly cutting-edge journalism – I was unable to pin him down with further killer questions because he then walked away. He was very polite, though and I appreciate the fact that he didn’t just ignore me, as I suspect many previous owners might have.

At the risk of revealing a Spoiler, however, I suspect that the fact that both he and Ashvir actually approached the fans at the end of the game as if they were fond Uncle and Nephew (not that I am suggesting in any way that they might be related in any way: god forbid…) to accept their applause shows that he is not looking too carefully.

But it’s a shame they weren’t similarly keen to face-up to the fans last Wednesday night, isn’t it?

Moving quickly on, however – Mr Momi and I were both there to watch Morecambe entertain Scunthorpe United today.

We have a poor record against the Lincolnshire club. In the halcyon days of the EFL, they beat us three times out of six and lost only once. The Iron have already beaten us in the National League: 3-1 last October. Today, they arrived in sixth place in the NL on the back of four wins and a draw in their last six league games. The former Football League Club seems to be on the up once more after many problems off the field saw them playing in National League North as recently as last season.

By contrast, Morecambe seem to be well on the way to replicating United’s downward spiral – or even outdoing them. The Shrimps are apparently not even good enough to compete in National League North, given their 2-0 defeat to members Chester in the FA Cup and their 6-2 demolition at fellow members Kidderminster in the FA Trophy last Tuesday night.

Morecambe started the game this afternoon with a complete mirror image of Scunny’s current form: four games lost; only one won in their last six league games. This appalling form explains why we were in twenty-second place in the NL table prior to the fixture, just a single point above rock bottom club Gateshead.

Morecambe’s current plight has not gone unnoticed.

One of Ashvir Singh Johal’s better loan signings – Maldini Kacurri – was withdrawn by parent club Arsenal just over a week ago. Queens Park Rangers then recalled Elijah Dixon-Bonner and have lent him to our rivals Wealdstone instead.

When this happened, Morecambe made a big song and dance about the fact that QPR team-mate Emmerson Sutton had signed-on for the rest of the season. This, apparently, was a Vote of Confidence in the club and Ashvir’s leadership.

Now Emmerson has gone too.

The Manager promised us two new signings by today to improve his depleted squad. The obvious one needed is someone who can at least lead the line. But he’s only been able to sign two defenders: Ashton McWilliams, who sat-out the disaster at Kidderminster on the bench and 18-year-old Centre Half Timothy (Timmy) Akindileni, also from QPR.

Ash predictably didn’t address any potentially awkward questions about recruitment or the loss of key loanees in the usual staged interview with a club employee prior to the game.

For once, I actually sat through this farce in the vain hope that he might say something interesting for a change.

Depressingly, though – and as always – he didn’t. In Ashworld, tricky stuff like talking about new signings; lost players and lost matches is not allowed. On the contrary, in Ashworld, the team plays well – losing to all seven leading clubs being all the proof anybody needs – according to what he said earlier in the week – that we are competing well and efficiently and the overall `process’ which he is constantly going on about is clearly working perfectly adequately too.

Well – thank goodness for that then; for a moment, I thought we were in trouble…

I won’t be watching any more of these pre-match farces: the whole wishful thinking charade is a complete waste of everybody’s time.

I was interested to hear what Scunny Manager Andy Butler had to say before the game but all I could find is an A.I. summary of it which I think guesses what he might have said. Given that it’s Artificial Intelligence, it’s probably wrong. But it’s still got to be far more interesting than the deluded thoughts of the other A.I. we have become accustomed to: Ashvir’s Imagination:

“After a loss to Rushall in early January, Butler stressed self-inflicted errors and the need to maintain tempo and avoid complacency. He noted the team’s struggle to convert chances, emphasizing hard work in training to be more clinical. The manager aimed for consistent performances, understanding that a slight dip in quality in a tough league results in punishment. Following a draw against Altrincham, Butler took responsibility for substitutions and focused on preventing repetitive conceding of goals.”

Preventing repetitive conceding of goals? Put that in the bin immediately: it sounds just like Ash!

Anyway… it was not a bad day weather-wise prior to kick-off in north Lancashire: dry with a bit of hazy sunshine and very little breeze. The pitch was quite heavy at the Maz but the game belied this by being actually really good to watch.

Despite my own pessimism, Morecambe bossed it in the first half and Scunthorpe’s response was pretty feisty: more than half of their team were booked today and I thought that at least two of them would have been sent off by a Referee more consistent and basically competent than the useless Harry Wager was this afternoon: he had an absolute shocker.

Morecambe looked pretty good and well-balanced in the first half. The team is always improved by Gwion Edwards: he is one of the few bits of class we possess and he always leads by example. He was Skipper today. At the back, young Timmy Akindileni looked as if he had been in the team all season and played with a maturity far beyond his eighteen years. Joe Nuttall – and substitute Admiral Muskwe – at least gave the rest of the side a focal point to aim the ball at up-front for a welcome change and both players acquitted themselves well this afternoon.

Morecambe asked nearly all the questions in the first half. After a quarter of an hour, busy away goalkeeper Rory Mahady did well at full stretch to keep an effort from Morecambe Captain Gwion out of the net. He then denied George Thomas’ weak shot when the Shrimps player was found with a ball over the top and well-placed just a minute later.

At the other end, home stopper Jamal Blackman had fans’ hearts in their mouths with his tendency to leave clearances until the very last moment and to wander too far from his goal-line this afternoon – as ever.

Is this part of the `process’, Ash?

He was caught in possession way out of his ground early doors but somehow recovered.  Yet he still took chances with his ball control as opposition players bore down on him and continued to be begging to be lobbed because of his eccentric positioning several times during the game.

He redeemed himself with a number of really good reaction saves, though. The first of these was made after seventeen minutes. United played quickly on the break and Oliver Ewing crossed the ball to Danny Whitehall who was denied by a fantastic stop by the big Shrimps’ keeper. Just before the end of the half, Jamal did well to get down low at his left-hand post to block a fierce shot from Callum Roberts.

The key moment of the first period arrived after 27 minutes. Gwion Edwards made progress down the Morecambe left before crossing the ball. United struggled to clear it, allowing Lewis Payne to pass immediately to Miguel Azeez to the right of centre. Miguel – loudly encouraged to do so by the home crowd – took an instant shot which hit the inside of Mahady’s left post before striking the unfortunate goalkeeper on the rebound and then nestling in the goal.

Jack Nolan then worked well on the Morecambe right with just over a half an hour played before cutting inside and taking a shot from a long way out which drew a great save from Mahady as he pushed it over the bar. He did well to make another smart save from the resulting corner. Jack then hit the post a minute later as the Shrimps continued to press.

So the game ended at half time with Morecambe deservedly in the lead.

But the worry was – as always – could the team hold onto their precious advantage?

I personally thought that the next goal could be decisive. But I was wrong…

I also thought that Scunthorpe Manager Andy Butler would not be happy with his team’s performance in the first half and would expect a reaction in the second.

And he got one: it took his men only four minutes to equalise. The Iron attacked down their right and sent over a routine cross. Roberts had ghosted-in unmarked in the centre; took one touch to control the ball and then slid it into the net to Blackman’s right with a low shot.

Poor defending yet again. But would Morecambe’s heads drop – as they so often do – and Scunny go on to win the game?

Neither of these things happened. From the kick-off, the Shrimps attacked and would have scored had not Mahady pulled-off another really good save following Nolan’s shot from the Morecambe right. The visitors took the lead when they won a corner on their left, had it palmed away by Blackman for another one and then saw a looping ball beyond the far post nodded back by Iron Skipper Andy Butler for an unmarked Joe Rowley to smash it home from the near post area.  It was another really poor goal to concede. But Morecambe still didn’t lie down. They were extraordinarily unlucky not to equalise when an Azeez strike after 82 minutes beat Mahady, hit the goalkeeper’s left hand post but bounced back straight into his hands as he lay on the ground. This was after another cross from the Morecambe right had crashed against his bar and away to safety not so long beforehand.

It looked like the visitors were about to escape with three undeserved points until  the sixth minute of added time at the end of the game, when George Thomas was hacked-down from behind by panicking Iron defender Will Evans. Substitute Admiral Muskwe scored confidently from the spot, placing the ball low into Mahady’s right corner as the goalkeeper dived to his left.

So that was it. Morecambe didn’t deserve to lose today and they did just about enough to hold onto a point. Manager Ash reacted as if they had won a Cup, not just a point in a competition where his team is still floundering. The Shrimps actually moved up a place in the National League table tonight, with both Gateshead and Truro now below them at the very bottom of the table. I’m delighted – and I’m sure all Shrimps fans will be too. So I won’t rain on Ash’s parade as he beamed into the camera after the game and said this:

“I think today, we have shown the quality and the togetherness of the group. The spirit; the belief; that after such a terrible performance on Tuesday everybody: players and staff: we have put that to bed and today, we had a much better performance.”

Morecambe: 40 Jamal Blackman; 2 Lewis Payne (29 Ashton McWilliams 82’); 3 Raheem Conte (Y); 6 Ludwig Francillette; 7 Gwion Edwards (C) (Y) (18 Ben Tollitt 68’); 8 Miguel Azeez (Y); 17 Paul Lewis; 21 Joe Nuttall (11 Admiral Muskwe 68’); 32 George Thomas (14 Alie Sesay 97’); 33 Timothy Akindileni; 36 Jack Nolan.

Subs not used: 41 Myles Boney; 15 Ben Williams; 19 Ma’Kel Bogle-Campbell.

Scunthorpe United: 38 Rory Mahady; 3 Branden Horton (Y); 6 Andrew Boyce (C) (Y); 9 Danny Whitehall (Y) (14 Carlton Obinna Ubaezuonu 82’); 10 Callum Roberts (7 Declan Howe 91’); 11 Joe Rowley (Y); 17 Oliver Ewing; 21 Joe Starbuck (4 Jéan Belehouan 91’); 23 Kyle Hurst (8 Alfie Beestin 62’); 25 Zain Westbrooke (Y); 33 Tyler Denton (Y) (5 Will Evans 62’);

Subs not used: 12 Louis Jones; 44 Ross Barrows.

Ref: Harry Wager.                  

Att: 2, 728 (453 from Scunny.)