ENTERPRISE NATIONAL LEAGUE. TUESDAY, 3rd FEBRUARY 2026.

Promising signs of revival for Morecambe at Altrincham.

Morecambe entered a new era when they returned to Moss Lane in Altrincham tonight to complete the fixture which was called-off almost literally at the last minute on Saturday, 3^rd January last. This is what I wrote about the imminent clash then:

“Morecambe’s delayed start to this season began when they entertained Altrincham in August at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium, and actually won by two goals to one. Happy days – and a glimpse of what might have been possible in the future for new, rookie Manager Ashvir Singh Johal and his mish-mash of a very recently assembled team.

Much of that enthusiasm has subsequently been lost as the Shrimps’ four games in hand have been gradually squandered; the team has been unable to escape the clutches of the National League relegation zone and Ash has proved to be totally out of his depth in the Hot Seat. Last Tuesday’s night 1-0 loss at Carlisle was their second in a row where they flattered to deceive at times: playing some really good football but then ruining everything by getting the basics absolutely and totally wrong. Why did the Manager yet again set-up with a man leading the line who is not good enough to be playing at this level of football – particularly when there was an established Centre Forward on the bench? Where was the marking in the centre of the pitch when Carlisle scored their solitary goal? The team selection is wrong and the collective inability of the side to concentrate for 90 minutes has cost the Shrimps time and again this season. It’s a habit – a very bad habit which they keep repeating. So Ash and his team travelled to Moss Road this afternoon more in hope than expectation. Morecambe were twentieth in the National League prior to the game; Alty were sixteenth, with a six-point lead over today’s visitors.

There have been some major changes at Moss Lane since the first game of the season. Then Manager Phil Parkinson (the Lesser) has been sacked and replacement Neil Gibson has been in charge since late November. But under his tutelage, the Robins have won only one game (his first against Scunthorpe) and lost the rest: five in a row including a humiliation by lower league Telford in the FA Trophy and ending-up with their latest reverse last Tuesday at home against York; 1-2. Then, they played with ten men for almost eighty minutes following Owen German’s sending-off for denying the visitors a clear goal-scoring opportunity after just sixteen minutes. Altrincham thus have an even worse recent league record than today’s visitors, who have managed to win two and draw one of their last seven games, losing four instead of five of them. This is what new Alty boss Neil Gibson told us before the game:

“We are under no illusions about the challenge in front of us. We know the league table; we know the points totals and we know that performances have to start turning into results. This only happens if we maintain the same discipline, fight and commitment we showed last time out. If we defend with the same pride; work for each other in the same way and keep building a solid base, then we will start to turn the corner. The belief is there. The spirit is there. Now it is about carrying that into Saturday and giving our supporters another performance they can get behind at Moss Lane.”

Morecambe FC thankfully seem to have made a New Year’s Resolution not to upload yet another staged interview between Manager Ashvir and one of the club’s media trainees before the game. In the past, all these totally phoney `interviews’ have done is give Mr Johal the opportunity to repeat the various delusional mantras he has been spouting all season: the team is improving; we are about to go on an unstoppable run; we could have scored in matches where we didn’t – blah, blah totally unconvincing blah. But nobody ever asks him why these things aren’t actually happening.

On the rare occasions I have listened to this drivel, I can’t help but let my mind wander back to his predecessor, Derek Adams. Derek never shirked an interview, no matter how difficult the circumstances. He told it how it was, too – not how it might have been or could be in the future. But one look at the upturn at Plymouth Argyle’s fortunes since Mr Adams returned there as Director of Football tells everyone what the new owners turned their backs on when they summarily dismissed him to put a fellow-Sikh in charge of the team instead.”

Now, another man who never minced his words has returned to the club to try and get Morecambe out of the mire. So what will hopefully prove to be the Great Escape started tonight under the lights at Moss Lane with fans’ favourite Jim Bentley back in charge.

The first move by the interim Managers who stood in before Jim was appointed was to send Archie Mair to Carlisle on loan. Let’s hope the young Scot has a chance to rebuild his confidence there: I personally think the ridiculous way Ashvir expected his defence to play put him under absurd pressure game after game as he was repeatedly expected to deal with kamikaze back-passes and some time being coached properly and not being the Aunt Sally in the nets anymore will get him back on track: this lad has real potential.

Archie’s parent club was next to bottom of the National League when the match started this evening. They are effectively six points shy of safety and just two points ahead of even more useless Gateshead, who would leap above us in the unlikely event of winning their single game in hand. Morecambe have lost four of their last six league games and won only one. The team have looked demoralised of late and the hope tonight was that a change of Manager might put some pep and drive into a side which should be doing a whole lot better than they have been in recent times: we have some really talented players on the books at the moment.

The Robins, by contrast, were in eighteenth place in the table at the start of play, a massive nine points better-off than tonight’s opponents, albeit with an extra game played. They lost 3-1 at Carlisle (who had Archie Mair on the bench) on Saturday but beat then top-of-the-table Boreham Wood 3-1 at Moss Lane the previous week after returning from Forest Green Rovers with a commendable 1-1 draw the game before that. However, they had lost four league matches in a row prior to that so their form is far from brilliant overall.

The first thing Morecambe fans would be intrigued to see is which players – after only effectively one day to train with them – Jim Bentley would select for tonight’s game. He named Yann Songo’o – a man cut from the same cloth as himself – as Captain. Morecambe always look better balanced and more determined when Yann is in the team. Gwion Edwards also started and although he again made a lot of mistakes tonight, he scored a goal which should have stood. Both of these men are obviously not fully fit and it was no surprise that they were both withdrawn in the second half. But Jim’s choice to replace Songo’o as Skipper was also interesting. He didn’t give the armband to Miguel Aziz – as his predecessor probably would have – but chose another central defender who also led by example tonight: Harlee Dean. Ludwig Francillette also got an outing this evening and I thought he had his best game yet for the club: you suspect, again, that having a man like Jimbo in charge of him who actually understands the demands of his position actually liberated him – or at least his mindset. Azeez himself was pushed much further forwards than he played under the previous regime until Jim pulled him back for a while in the second half when his team were a bit under the cosh.

The match started in slightly misty conditions with icy droplets in it and was played in a bitingly cold wind throughout.

Morecambe started brightly. Chris Popov played right from the off with his familiar enthusiasm and drive and – unlike most of his team-mates, who were clearly flagging after about an hour – he kept it up right until the end. The training regime at Leicester City is obviously far more effective than anything the classroom-based Ashvir Singh Johal introduced at Morecambe…

Anyway – Chris has been unlucky with his Shrimps career so far. He was booked for diving in his first home match in a situation where he had simply been taken-out by a Solihull defender. Tonight, he was clearly fouled in the penalty area again – when Jake Cooper pulled him back – in the dying moments. Just before this, he had been roughly shoved to the ground by home goalkeeper Luke Hutchinson off the ball: this wasn’t some sort of accidental coming together or the merest touch: this was nasty and it was clearly intentional. The man in green should have been sent off but the utterly useless Referee Michael Barlow and his equally clueless linesmen apparently were the only people in the ground not to have seen what happened: he wasn’t even booked. Come to think of it, sending Hutchinson off might have done the home team a favour: he was really weak at times tonight, looked shaky throughout and I thought he let his side down in several ways.

Chris had a chance as early as the first minute. Jack Nolan got away down the left and passed the ball to him in the middle. He spun and unleashed an instant shot which Hutchinson did well to keep out. Miguel Azeez gave the home keeper an easier save with 37 minutes on the clock as he hit the ball from just to the left of the penalty area.

As for the Robins, Jimmy Knowles looked off-side as he ran onto a long ball on the Atly right after 18 minutes. But Jamal Blackman got his angles right and thwarted him with a fine save at his near post: one of a number he was forced into this evening. At the other end both Ludwig Francillette and Harlee Dean came close with headers from corners but there was no scoring in the first half.

The second period started perfectly for the visitors. Josh Grant was perhaps lucky to receive only a yellow card after a sneaky foul off the ball on Popov to the right of the penalty area from Morecambe’s point of view. Azeez and Nolan lined up to take it; Jack actually hit it and swerved the ball around the Alty wall to the left of Hutchinson, who probably should have saved it – but didn’t as a tremendous shot went in right by his left-hand post.

The home team played some nice, quick football at times tonight. They started to dominate the play as the match grew older as a seemingly tiring Shrimps side started falling ever deeper into their own half. In the fifty-fifth minute, Paul Lewis drew a decent save from the home keeper with an improvised volley. Hutchinson set-up an instant counter-attack which saw the ball worked down their right via Matty Kosylo who then played a defence-splitting pass forwards to Knowles, who found Ollie Crankshaw in turn with a precise pass into the middle. Crankshaw worked a position for himself far too easily against a static away defence and found the back of the net with a superb shot into the top corner to Jamal’s right, giving the big stopper no chance at all. The Robins had the best of things for some time after that. But Morecambe still played effectively on the break and Gwion Edwards probably scored after 67 minutes. He cut in from the left and hit a speculative shot straight at Hutchinson. The goalkeeper somehow let it go through him and – from my position behind the goal – I was sure the ball fully went over the line before substitute Jake Cooper did brilliantly to boot it out again. I thought the key indicator was Cooper’s reaction: one look at his face told you that he knew it had actually gone in.

There was more controversy when Popov was pushed over by the home stopper off the ball. It should have been a penalty and a sending-off. And another penalty should have been awarded in injury time, when Popov got goal-side of Cooper on the Morecambe left as the big defender played the ball weakly towards his own goalkeeper only to haul Chris back by the arm. But the Ref again completely – and incomprehensibly – ignored it.

So that was that. Morecambe played well tonight and would have won if the contest had been properly refereed. I thought there were two stone-wall penalties for fouls on Popov which the incompetent with the whistle basically bottled. Mr Barlow’s performance tonight was a disgrace: every time an Alty player fell over, he awarded them a free-kick – but didn’t extend the same courtesy to Morecambe players on the receiving end of several clear fouls by Robins’ players.

There was a good turn-out by the away contingent tonight: long queues at the turnstiles prior to the game and noisy support all the way through it. Jimbo and his players were given a really warm reception at the end – and they all deserved it.

Having said that, Jim has a lot on his plate to deal with. Working out his best formation and players will obviously take time but one thing that must have worried him was the obvious lack of fitness of most of his squad – something that the previous Manager clearly never even tried to address. But there were some really good things about tonight’s performance too. The single point pushed the Shrimps one place up the table to twenty-second position in the National League. They are six points from safety but tonight’s single point must be seen as a bonus because if this game had been played when it should have been, they would have lost. Altrincham’s share of the spoils tonight saw them go up two places to sixteenth in the table.

So what did Jim Bentley make of it all after his first game back in the hot seat? This is how he summed-up his thoughts at the end of the match:

“It’s a good point away from home: wanted three; got one; we’ll take it. It could have gone both ways. We’ve changed a couple of little things which sometimes can confuse some players: it’s a little bit difficult, which is to be expected. It was a tough game for us. But I’ve been in the job one day and all I said to the players was: just represent the club in the right manner. Give us a good, honest, professional, hard-working, determined away performance. Our mentality was to try and get three points. We ended-up with one. Second half, we just started dropping-off a little bit. But what we did do, we looked good on the counter-attack. You’re away from home – sometimes, you do have to cover-up. It got a little bit end-to-end and we gave possession away to the opposition. For ten minutes, they were on top of us but I can’t remember many opportunities – and then we hit them on the counter-attack a couple of times. There was a big shout for a penalty; maybe two penalties; a shot which went through the keeper’s hands and almost went over the line: debateable whether it did or it didn’t. So overall, did they compete for us? Yes: there’s blood on the pitch; Paul Lewis; we’ve bags of ice in there: bumps and bruises. Everyone run hard; everyone give their absolute all: that’s the least we expect. Nice to be back; fantastic goal from us; right back in the thick of it.”

Altrincham: 30 Luke Hutchinson; 6 Josh Grant (Y) (5 Jake Cooper 62’); 7 Ollie Crankshaw (17 Lucas Weaver 74’); 8 Isaac Marriot; 11 Jimmy Knowles (40 Charlie Kirk 73’) 14 Matty Kosylo; 20 Kahrel Azariah Reddin; 22 Tom Crawford (C); 23 Tylor Golden (Y); 26 Anthony Forde (33 Eddy Jones 63’); 34 Dan Sassi.

Subs not used: 12 Kian Breckin; 27 Louie Fallon; 31 Charlie Olson.

Morecambe: 40 Jamal Blackman; 2 Lewis Payne; 5 Harlee Dean; 6 Ludwig Francillette; 7 Gwion Edwards (18 Ben Tollitt 70’); 8 Miguel Azeez; 15 Ben Williams (Y) (29 Ashton McWilliams 70’); 17 Paul Lewis; 24 Yann Songo’o (C) (32 George Thomas 76’); 36 Jack Nolan; 42 Chris Popov.

Subs not used: 41 Myles Boney; 21 Joe Nuttall; 27 Adam Fairclough; 33 Timothy Akindileni.

Ref: Michael Barlow.

Att: 2,088 (484 from Morecambe.)