ENTERPRISE NATIONAL LEAGUE. TUESDAY, 25th MARCH 2026.

Hartlepool come from behind to win at Morecambe.

With just seven league games left to save themselves from a third relegation in four years, Morecambe welcomed Hartlepool United to the Mazuma Mobile Stadium this evening.

Last night – Tuesday – there were numerous fixtures in the National Legue with implications for the Shrimps. Gateshead‘s form since re-installing Rob Elliot as their boss is currently that of league winners. They thrashed leading club York by three goals to one in the North East and in doing so, escaped the clutches of the Legion of the Damned at the bottom of the National League altogether.  But lowly Brackley and Braintree could only manage a draw and two goals between them at St James’ Park and their place in the mire – like ours – remains pretty assured on current form. This is what Morecambe Manager Jim Bentley had to say about the current twists and turns:

“I’ve said all along, you can’t rely on other clubs. You’ve just got to get your own house in order. But when you come away from a game and you look at other results, you are looking for a favour.”

The Shrimps started the game in twenty-third place in the National League (next to bottom if you prefer); tantalisingly just six points short of safety with a game in hand but a massive twenty-three behind the Monkey Hangers, who were in ninth berth prior to kick-off. The Pools arrived on the back of two wins on the spin – the latest at home against Eastleigh last Saturday – who they beat by the only goal of the game – and four victories altogether out of their last six matches, of which they have lost two. Morecambe have also lost two of their latest six league encounters – most recently in a really disappointing display at Yeovil last weekend, where they lost 3-2 – plus two wins and obviously a couple of draws. The two clubs have met twelve times before this season and Morecambe had won just three of them but lost six. Last November though, Ashvir Singh Johal’s totally dysfunctional team only drew a game (one goal each) which they should have won in County Durham when Captain Miguel Azeez played a poor pass backwards which was intercepted for the Monkey murderers to score.

Tonight, then, it was imperative for Morecambe to win. Even if they did, they would still be in the relegation pack, albeit at the top of it instead of next to the bottom; level on games played with the rest of the Damned but still three points shy of Gateshead and five short of Eastleigh, whose Spitfires seem to be rapidly heading earthwards out of control since the harsh and perhaps foolish sacking of their Manager Scott Bartlett after Morecambe beat them 4-0 in January.

This is what Jimbo had to say prior to this particular match:

“Hartlepool’s the most important – that’s the next one. They’ve still got something to play for – a chance of getting into the Play-Offs. They’ve picked-up of late. They don’t score many; they don’t concede many. They’ve got good players. It’ll be a tough game for us but we’re at home; we’ve been in OK form up until Saturday. There’s no room for error. We’ve over-defended: honest lads running towards the line when they should really be running towards the player in the box and picking him up. I said to them on Friday: “Players score goals; not space – so mark players and not space” We have a tendency to go away from the danger in regards to covering-up in and around the goal mouth. I don’t think it was a good enough performance. We’ve got to defend better. We’ve got to get back to doing what we’ve done previously.”

Jim dropped Miguel Azeez on Saturday in favour of Mo Sangare but tonight Jim gave the nod to Miguel once more. Jake Cain was still unavailable due to the ankle tweak he suffered before the game in Yeovil but the Manager hopes he will be available again in a few days’ time.

The weather in north Lancashire yesterday was not so much just wet but almost Biblical in its severity. Heavy downpours falling incessantly from above flooded many roads and fields below. All that was missing was lightning, hail and the occasional plague of frogs. Today was a bit more mixed: bright sunshine at times interspersed with more heavy rain. So the game started on a pitch which had seen a liberal sprinkling of water  in recent times but at least the rain held off during the match itself.

United started as they played all night: nippy; quick and incisive. They looked fit and they arrived with a game plan: play the ball quickly forwards at every opportunity using whatever angles best suited their chances of scoring. Having said that, Morecambe gave as good as they got at least in the first half and possibly better during the opening period. Referee Matthew McQuillan and his assistants had poor games tonight. He started as he meant to go on, awarding a corner-kick to the visitors after Jamal Blackman had clearly had the ball kicked out of his hands by a Hartlepool player after just four minutes. And so it went on: poor decisions which probably affected both sides equally all evening. Blackman then made a good save from Charlie Caton after eleven minutes followed by fairly regular one from Matty Daly five minutes later. At the other end, the impressive Lewis Payne had a shot blocked after nineteen minutes. The full-back then set-up Dan Ogwuru after and mazy and determined run onto the right hand goal-line from his point of view for a shot which away goalkeeper Nick Hayes did really well to keep out with twenty-two minutes played. From the resulting corner, following a bit of ping-pong in the Pools’ box, Official Man of the Match Gwion Edwards put the hosts ahead with a tremendous strike high into the back of the net which gave Hayes no chance at all. The Shrimps were on top at this point but the visitors didn’t panic and gradually played their way back into the match. It was no surprise when they equalised after thirty-three minutes when Daly played well before sending a cross over which Caton simply showed more determination than the home defence or its goalkeeper to reach first and turn the ball past a struggling Blackman, who was far too slow to react. Three minutes later, the visitors came within millimetres of taking the lead when a shot from Alex Reid hit Blackman’s right-hand post with the goalkeeper beaten. Gwion then struck another fierce shot just too high in first half injury time.

So the teams went back all-square at the break. It had been a good game to watch, despite the erratic refereeing and although Morecambe had ridden their luck with the post strike, I thought they had marginally shaded things so far.

The Shrimps wasted a golden opportunity to go ahead again right at the start of the second period. Following good approach play on the Morecambe left, Chris Popov was presented with a perfect chance to score when the ball was played into him as he was in the middle of the penalty area. All it needed was a touch but Chris stood on the ball and fell over instead. Morecambe then had a let-off of their own four minutes into the second period when it was Tyrese Sinclair’s turn to hit the woodwork – the crossbar this time – with a fine strike which also beat the home custodian. A shot from Reid was then just off the target after 52 minutes before the Monkey Hangers fell behind again. An hour was on the clock when Miguel Azeez made one of his few decent contributions to the game with a shot which was too hot for Hayes to handle, allowing Jack Nolan to smash the ball past him on the rebound with a well-taken shot. He deserved it: Jack had a good game this evening.

But again, the visitors didn’t panic. And from this point on, only one team was going to win this match. United just upped the ante and started to press Morecambe back into their own half. They constantly probed the home defence from all angles, looking for weaknesses. And found them as the home team increasingly lost their shape and started booting the ball aimlessly upfield in usually fruitless attempts to clear their lines. It was no surprise when Sinclair got away on the Pools’ left after 75 minutes and slung over a cross which the home defence should have cleared. But they didn’t and Reid was allowed to pull the visitors level.

They didn’t settle for this though. Hartlepool were here to win – and they did so in the eighty-eighth minute. Substitute Adam Campbell and Cameron John combined well before finding that man Reid in the middle once more – and he scored again, far too easily. It had been coming and nobody could argue that United didn’t deserve their win. Having said that, but for a miraculous clearance off the line from a tremendous Ben Tollitt shot in injury time by Cameron John, they could have left with only a point. Overall though, Pools looked fitter, stronger and more determined throughout the game – and they played the better football ultimately. Morecambe were simply not consistently good enough to compete with them for ninety minutes tonight.

So things look pretty bleak for the Shrimps now. Two defeats on the spin; shambolic defending once more when it really mattered and an obvious lack of quality in comparison to tonight’s visitors. The loss sees them stuck in next to bottom place in the National League and six points adrift with only six games left. All is not lost yet but on this showing, they are facing the very real possibility of the drop yet again. This is what Jimbo made of it:

“Feel a bit sick; feel a bit gutted. Frustrated. I’ll say the same thing as I did on Saturday: nothing in the game Saturday – we just didn’t defend two moments well enough. And that was the same story in the second half tonight. I asked the lads when I come in to have no regrets – to battle; compete and run hard – and there’s evidence of that tonight. I can’t knock them. I don’t think they can give me any more. But unfortunately, we’ve just come up short again. You can’t be two-one up at home and throw away two goals in the manner that we did. There’s a pattern as well: I’ve spoken to the players about it. If we do get done down the side or someone gets into our box, it’s like a safety net of `Oh! We better get to the line; to clear it off the line!’ – we have a tendency to go towards the line before we go to the player. That one tonight – where Reid’s just pulled-off all our defenders and he’s free as a bird, six or seven yards out on his left foot – and he puts it in the back of the net. We’ve got to do better. But we’ve got to keep fighting – it’s as simple as that.”

Morecambe: 40 Jamal Blackman; 2 Lewis Payne (28 Tommy Fogarty 77’); 5 Harlee Dean (Y); 7 Gwion Edwards (C) (12 Kyle Jameson 89’); 8 Miguel Azeez (Y) (20 Mo Sangare 71’); 16 Liam Hogan; 17 Paul Lewis; 23 Dan Ogwuru (32 George Thomas 71’)); 33 Timothy Akindileni (18 Ben Tollitt 89’); 36 Jack Nolan; 42 Chris Popov.

Subs not used: 41 Myles Boney; 24 Yann Songo’o.

Hartlepool United: 23 Nick Hayes; 2 Whit Benn; 3 Cameron John; 5 Maxim Kouogun; 14 Nathan Sheron (C); 15 Jack Hunter; 18 Jamie Miley; 19 Alex Reid (27 Vadaine Oliver 8’); 28 Matty Daly (10 Adam Campbell 79’); 35 Charlie Caton (17 Sam Folarin79’); 37 Tyrese Sinclair.

Subs not used: 40 Adam Smith; 9 Danny Johnson; 38 Brad Walker; 39 Calvin Okike.

Ref: Matthew McQuillan.

Att: 2,565 (224 from Hartlepool.)