ENTERPRISE NATIONAL LEAGUE. WEDNESDAY, 21st JANUARY 2026.

Far too easy for lacklustre Halifax.

One swallow doesn’t make a summer but the way some Shrimps fans have proclaimed Morecambe’s last gasp draw against Scunthorpe United at the Maz last Saturday on social media would have you believe we are top of the National League with clear blue skies ahead. The team performance was undoubtedly better – and incompararably better than possibly the club’s worst ever humiliation by a supposedly lesser side which happened at Kidderminster just over a week ago. But tonight would be another test of whether the collective effort against the Iron or the one against the Harriers is the real yardstick by which to judge any genuine improvement in Ashvir Singh Johal’s malfunctioning and perennially underperforming team.

Morecambe travelled to God’s Own Country tonight to face Halifax Town for the second time this term. The Shaymen started the fixture on a fine run of form: four wins out of six in the National League and just a single defeat in their last six league games. Last Saturday, they beat Boston United in Yorkshire 2-1 and the night we were being humiliated in Kidderminster, they were disposing of minnows Anstey Town of Northamptonshire 4-0 to book a tie against the Harriers in the fifth round of the FA Trophy. Halifax were eighth in the NL table before kick-off tonight, just a point shy of the Play-Off positions.

Morecambe, by sharp contrast, were in twenty-second place in the relegation section of the table prior to the game, four points short of safety and just two off the very bottom of the pile. They have lost four of their last six league matches and won only one of them.

I was out of the country when Halifax came from behind to beat Morecambe 1-2 back across the Pennines in Lancashire in September last. I wasn’t able to see the game and didn’t write a match report, which would have included some Pen Pictures of the club from the review of National League clubs which I wrote last season. Here it is now:

Halifax – an imposing stone-built industrial town in West Yorkshire – has traditionally been a Rugby League stronghold. Soccer – Association Football – has always played second fiddle.

However, the original Halifax Town AFC was formed in 1911 and played in the Yorkshire Combination for a season before joining the Midland League. They became members of the Football League at the newly-built Shay ground (81 miles from the Mazuma Mobile Stadium) in 1921 and lasted as an EFL club until 1993, when they were relegated to the Football Conference. By this time – despite beginning to share the Shay with the rugby club Halifax Panthers, Town were in big financial trouble, owing the tax man alone almost eighty thousand pounds: a huge debt at the time. After initially struggling in their reduced circumstances, the club rallied and actually won the Conference – and thus a place back in the EFL again – at the end of the 1997-98 season. But they were soon down once more: in 2002. A rookie Chris Wilder was then appointed Manager and took the Shaymen to the Conference Play-Off Final in Leicester during 2006 only for them to lose to Hereford United (who had accounted for Morecambe in the semi-finals) by the odd goal in five after extra time.

By this time, the club were in even deeper financial doo-doo and rumours that the Shay was about to be sold to be replaced by a supermarket or perhaps a sports complex resulted in actual bids for the ground by several property speculators. It survived, however – and continued to survive the reality that the club had gone into Administration owing the HMRC alone over £800,000 and with a total debt of two million smackers – and maybe a tad more.

They were deducted ten points by the Conference during the 2007-08 season for going into Administration as a result of this but technically avoided relegation on the last day of the campaign. To no avail – having failed to implement the Company Voluntary Agreement agreed with the Conference to bring the club out of Administration, Halifax were banished to the Northern Premier League Division One. At this point – hardly surprisingly – Halifax Town went bust.

But FC Halifax almost immediately rose from the ashes, with the same Board of Directors as before and the same home ground: the Shay. They started again from scratch in the NPL First Division; four steps down from the Football League of which they had been such proud members for over seventy years.

They won the division at the first attempt and the NPL Premier the season after that. Then they reached the Play-Offs in the Conference North during 2012, narrowly losing to Gainsborough Trinity before bouncing back a year later, beating Brackley Town in the Play-Off Final to enter the Conference Premier. They reached the Play-Offs in this at the end of the 2013-14 season but narrowly lost again in the semi-finals, this time to eventual winners Cambridge United. In 2016, though, they were relegated back to the recently re-named National League North but bounced straight back with a Play-Off win over Chorley. Since then, they have been regularly knocking on the door of the EFL but not quite gaining entry.  They were beaten at the Play-Off stage by Chesterfield in 2022 and Solihull Moors in 2024. Last season, they finished sixth in the National League but again fell in the semi-finals of the Play-Offs when they were walloped 4-0 by eventual winners Oldham Athletic.

The internet tells us that the only time Morecambe and FC Halifax have met has been in the FA Cup during 2018. This ended with embarrassment for the Shrimps as the Shaymen drew 1-1 at the Maz and then knocked EFL Morecambe out of the competition by winning the replay by the only goal of the game. Again, though, they have certainly met many more times than these two games but I have no way of retrieving all these statistics.

Several players have been employed by both clubs, most notably – and recently – AJ Leitch-Smith; Jordan Slew and Jamie Stott. Perhaps more importantly, iconic ex-Morecambe Manager Jim Harvey was also boss at AFC Halifax at one time and earned the eternal affection of their fans by winning the FA Trophy Final in 2016: they beat Grimsby Town at Wembley by the only goal of the game. Seven years later, they emulated this feat when they overcame Gateshead by one goal to nil.

Morecambe’s two games against FC Halifax Town this term will both be played under floodlights. The first one will be at the Maz on Tuesday, 24^th September 2025. The second will be in Yorkshire on Wednesday, 21^st January 2026.

The team selection of Morecambe Manager Ashvir Singh Johal tonight was – as ever – a mystery. Impressive youngster Timmy Akindileni was rewarded for his very promising debut last Saturday by being dropped to the bench and Ash chose to start with two rookies in the centre of the defence, one of whom hasn’t played for almost a year: new signings Harlee Dean and Tommy Fogarty.

Harlee is a central defender with a lot of experience with clubs such as Dagenham & Redbridge; Brentford and Birmingham City, where he was Captain for scores of games. He had been without a club since last March, however. At 34 years of age and lacking full fitness, he unsurprisingly struggled tonight, particularly with his obvious lack of pace against nippy younger forwards. To his left, Birmingham City loanee Tommy Fogarty acquitted himself far better – until he conceded a penalty at the end of the game. The 21-year-old is a Northern Ireland international and he looked like he might be an excellent fit in the Shrimps’ rearguard. Up front, Ash chose to start with Joe Nuttall leading the line and Joe made it very clear that he was not best pleased when he was taken off with just over half an hour of the match left to play. Former Morecambe Managers such as Jim Bentley and Derek Adams wouldn’t tolerate this public display of obvious insubordination but the man we have in charge these days seems to be so weak that he will not do anything to stop it happening again. Whatever, the late scorer against Scunny on Saturday – Admiral Musque – was not in the squad at all tonight. This gave new signing Chris Popov the opportunity to impress. He didn’t disappoint and we will return to that later. The young Welshman has signed on-loan from Ashvir’s spiritual home Leicester City. A Manchester United youngster, 21-year-old Chris played eleven games for Barrow last season but failed to score.

It was drizzly and very windy in Halifax’s huge bowl of a stadium as the game started. The pitch was in excellent condition (particularly considering that Rugby League is still played on it) but the top was greasy and this was not helped as the temperature dropped and the rain was sometimes quite heavy as the evening grew older.

Any hope that the new players who have swollen Morecambe’s ranks might lead to a change of tactics by the Manager or improvement on the field were soon dispelled. It was the same old same old: lots of possession at times but with the ball treated like a hot potato by most of the Shrimps’ men. It was endlessly passed sideways and backwards as the forwards played with their backs to the opposition goal nearly all the time. There were no positive runs forwards. No passing into space. Absolutely no penetration and less than zero bite: the only save I can remember Shayman Skipper Sam Johnson having to make all night was from substitute Chris Popov: an instinctive but weak back-heel which the big goalkeeper fielded easily. Morecambe were absolutely dreadful again, totally bereft of ideas as almost always and I personally thought they looked beaten from the moment they took to the pitch.  

Halifax were not much better and some bizarre refereeing by officious, portly little Referee Gareth Rhodes really didn’t help. This was a really dreary game to watch and it’s little surprise there were so few people there to witness it. On a wet and windy night high up in the Pennines, most sane people have far better things to do with their time. So I’m not going to bore everybody with a blow-by-blow account of what happened – because not a lot did, to be perfectly honest.

I think the real difference between the hosts and our rabble tonight was that Halifax had a plan – and they both understood and executed it: sit back and hit quickly on the break. Simple as that. And it worked.

Jamal Blackman had a fairly routine save to make from a header by Will Harris following a lovely move by left winger Thierry Latty-Fairweather after three minutes, who had out-muscled much bigger Joe Nuttall by sheer determination to deliver the cross. I think this said everything about the relative commitment of the two sides this evening. Five minutes later, Halifax took the lead. The goal was shockingly simple. Jack Nolan lost the ball deep in the home half; Owen Bray broke through the centre quickly, passed the ball left to Angelo Cappello, who skipped around Lewis Payne as if he wasn’t there and then slipped a perfect pass forward into space for Harris to run onto and score with an instant, simple shot which beat Blackman low to the goalkeeper’s left. Three passes from one end of the pitch to the other in a few seconds and bang! as the away defence basically stood off and watched: it was utterly pathetic as Morecambe got all the basics completely wrong for the umpteenth time this season.

There was virtually nothing else to report until the dying moments of the game. Fogarty was perhaps harshly adjudged to have fouled substitute Max Wright in the box during the 87^th minute. Jay Turner-Cooke stepped-up to take the resultant penalty only for Jamal Blackman to make what I think is at least his fourth spot-kick save in a row. Well done him. Harris netted the rebound only to have it chalked-off for offside. But Halifax had already done more than enough to win the game. Morecambe never looked like getting back into the contest once the Shaymen took the lead. Tonight, they ended-up where they deserve to be: next to the bottom of the National League, just two points above even more hopeless Gateshead. Halifax remained in eight position in the table following their double over the Shrimps this campaign.

I can only find one positive thing to say about an otherwise thoroughly depressing display by the Shrimps yet again. And that was the performance of debutant Chris Popov. His sheer enthusiasm is something we are no longer used to seeing at Morecambe. He kept putting his hand up to receive the ball – and he got stuck-in too. He caused the home defence more problems on his own in about forty minutes than his team-mates did the entire rest of the evening. This is one of many things that are completely missing in the current Morecambe mindset: enthusiasm and determination. It’s not a lot to ask of professional sportsmen, is it? But what a breath of fresh air young Christopher was tonight…

The team and their Manager were roundly booed by the travelling contingent at the end of the game. I didn’t join in – I don’t see any point in further de-motivating players who are clearly already demoralised but I understand why other fans feel differently. We’re doomed, simple as that. It’s also clear that Chairman Kuljit Singh Momi isn’t going to change the status quo and get rid of perhaps the most disastrous so-called `Manager’ Morecambe have ever had. It’s hardly worth repeating what Ashvir Singh Johal said after the game to attempt to justify this latest utter shambles but for the record, let’s get our latest fix of wishful thinking; denial and avoidance of any responsibility for it:

“The overall performance was good. We had the chances to win the game. We missed three clear-cut chances, chances that we should have scored. But at the end of the game, we lost the game and we need to work-out how.”

I think any one of the 104 travelling supporters could tell him. But it’s not going to happen, is it?

Halifax: 1 Sam Johnson (C); 4 Will Hugill (18 Florent Hoti (Y) 68’); 5 Shaun Hobson; 9 Will Harris; 11 Angelo Cappello (20 Jack Jenkins 77’); 15 Will Smith; 17 Owen Bray (7 Max Wright 69’); 19 AJ Warburton; 27 Jay Turner-Cooke (Y) (3 Adam Alimi-Adetoro 90’); 30 Cody Johnson; 36 Thierry Latty-Fairweather.

Subs not used: 12 Nathaniel Ford; 16 Jevon Mills; 22 David Kawa; 33 Tommy Lavery.

Morecambe: 40 Jamal Blackman; 2 Lewis Payne; 3 Raheem Conte; 5 Harlee Dean; 7 Gwion Edwards (C) 8 Miguel Azeez (Y); 17 Paul Lewis (Y); 21 Joe Nuttall (Y) (42 Chris Popov (Y) 55’); 28 T Fogarty; 32 George Thomas (18 Ben Tollitt 73’); 36 Jack Nolan.

Subs not used: 41 Myles Boney; 15 Ben Williams; 29 Ashton McWilliams; 33 Timothy Akindileni; 19 Ma’Kel Bogle-Campbell.

Ref: Gareth Rhodes.

Att: 1,097 (140 from Morecambe.)