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Morecambe preview

Postby Sweden Stag » Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:01 am

The race for the automatic promotion places, the playoff one and escaping the bottom two is hotting up big style now with four League Two rounds remaining. For the Stags, it is about retaining the current automatic promotion position, currently in third above MK Dons and Tranmere, just below Bury with just four points separating those four sides. And for the Stags’ Good Friday visitors, Morecambe, it is about escaping the trap door, which Morecambe have all but done with ten points above the drop zone by the time of previewing.

Morecambe, one of two sides continuously in League Two since the Stags’ FL return in 2013 (as well as the current Newport club’s inaugural one), escaped the drop on the final day of last season by virtue of a creditable goal-less draw at Coventry.

The Shrimps are also currently the longest surving League Two member and have during their entire FL stay called upon just TWO managers. The first one was Sammy McIlroy, in charge when the Shrimps gained their League Two ticket in 2007, and he stayed till the end of the 2010-11 campaign. He was then replaced by Jim Bentley, who has remained in the Morecambe hot seat ever since. And he will remain there for a further two, as he extended his managerial contract immediately after a home defeat against Crawley two months before Morecambe’s trip to the Stags just before Christmas 2017. Proof of not panicking when results go wrong.

After the game at Morecambe last season, securing the Stags’ third straight win there, the Shrimpers must have felt sick of conceding late goals against the Stags as the game between the sides at Mansfield was also decided late on, just two minutes before the final whistle of normal time.

During the 2016-17 campaign, the sides won their respective away games. On Boxing Day 2016, Morecambe won by the only goal of the game at One Call after a poor Stags display, while the revenge mission was completed on March 25 last year, when the Stags won 3-1 at Morecambe, all goals coming in the first half.

At Morecambe’s Globe Arena, the Stags turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory within the last five minutes of that game, the Stags’ winner in the 90th minute, which also meant that the Morecambe Shrimps lost at the same time. But the Shrimps did the other way when high-flying Portsmouth took the long trip up to Morecambe a week later. Then, of all players, Morecambe’s keeper Barry Roche, now having kept Morecambe goal in 418 FL games, a club record and an incredible feat, hit home the equalizer to a 1-1 scoreline in the fourth minute of injury-time (official time 90th minute) meaning that a Morecambe run of three straight defeats came to an end.
Talk of long service and experience and staying at one club. The same could be written about Kevin Ellison, 328 League Two games, 79 goals, all during the entire Jim Bentley reign at the Globe Arena.

There, experience also told on the Stags’ latest visit to Morecambe. The experienced Neal Bishop hit the only goal of the game with a superb half-volley last October.

In the 2015-16 campaign, both fixtures were dramatic ones. At Morecambe, the Stags turned the game late on, as noted above. At One Call Stadium, goalie Scott Shearer saved TWO Morecambe penalties to preserve a 2-1 victory, the first time a Stags goalie has saved two spot-kicks during the same game during the Stags’ entire League history.

In 2014-15, the Stags won 1-0 at home thanks to a 90th minute header by Alex Fisher which clinched the Stags’ first-ever home points against the Shrimps, as the two games before that between the sides at Mansfield, the first one seen by the previewer on February 12, 2008, had seen Morecambe come out as 2-1 winners. The second one, on November 30, 2013, saw the Stags’ last FL and cup penalty given for up to August 2015, but crucially missed at 1-1.

The 2009-10 campaign is so far Morecambe's best-ever one in their FL history. Then, they finished fourth, a position which in three of the Stags' promotion seasons from the basement (1962-63, 1974-75 and 1985-86 respectively) had guaranteed automatic promotion.

But Morecambe had to be content with the playoffs, where their hopes were dented big style by a 6-0 mauling at Dagenham & Redbridge, the side that followed Morecambe up to the FL in 2007, the Daggers as champions and Morecambe winning the playoff finals against Exeter.

Although Morecambe never had met the Stags in any competition before the 2007-08 season, the Shrimps had reached the third round of the FA Cup on three occasions. The first one was way back in 1961-62 after beating Chester away in the second round. In the third round, Morecambe were drawn at home to another non-league side, Weymouth. In front of a record crowd, over 9000, at Christie Park, the South Coast side went through by the only goal of the game and were rewarded with a good fourth round tie at Preston, losing only 3-1. Little did Morecambe and Weymouth know then, that the sides were to face each other chasing conference points some 44 years later! During the 21st century, Morecambe have reached the third round twice and on both occasions been drawn to Ipswich, one at home and one in Suffolk.

The sides have yet to draw a League fixture and in fact, Morecambe’s first-ever FL victory was achieved against the Stags at the Shrimpers’ old Christie Park venue to a 3-1 scoreline on August 25, 2007 after a poor Stags display. And only two games, both at Morecambe, have been won to a two-goal margin, one for each side.
The first-ever game between the sides at Mansfield in February 2008 was watched by the previewer, and only once, Morecambe have taken just over 100 fans to One Call in preview history.

Last season, the Shrimpers drew on nineteen occasions, while the Stags drew in eighteen. Before the trip to Morecambe earlier this season, the Stags drew six consecutive away games, a club record, while Morecambe have drawn seven games on the road, some very crucial ones at Notts County and Macclesfield respectively and have also gained good away victories at Carlisle and at our next away opponent, Oldham. At headquarters, Morecambe gained very good three-pointers against Forest Green and MK Dons in successive fixtures, scoring seven goals in the process. Proof of deserving another League Two campaign, losing just once in their last seven games. But that was a 4-0 rout at Swindon, while the Stags won their latest home fixture to a 1-0 scoreline against Cambridge.

Played for both sides: Dave Artell, Simon Grand, Kevan Hurst, James Jennings, Keith Kennedy, Fraser McLachlan, Vadaine Oliver, Adam Rundle, James Sutton, Richard Sutton, Brian Thomson, Neil Wainwright, Laurence Wilson.

Previous FL games:

Home games: P 6, W 3, D 0, L 3, GF 7, GA 7
Away games: P 7, W 5, D 0, L 2, GF 11, GA 8

Season Home Date Away Date

2007-08 1-2 2008-02-12 1-3 2007-08-25 League Two
2013-14 1-2 2013-11-30 1-0 2014-04-05 League Two
2014-15 1-0 2014-09-16 1-2 2015-02-10 League Two
2015-16 2-1 2016-02-06 2-1 2016-01-26 League Two
2016-17 0-1 2016-12-26 3-1 2017-03-25 League Two
2017-18 2-1 2017-12-23 2-1 2018-01-27 League Two
2018-19 (at Morecambe) 1-0 2018-10-23 League Two

Three points should be VERY important now. Come on Mansfield!
Stockholm, July 4, 2008, 15.00 GMT. Good news came, K.H. gone. March 1, 2012. Ground purchased.
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Re: Morecambe preview

Postby sw19stag » Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:14 am

Thanks Svante, and Happy Easter.
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Re: Morecambe preview

Postby ST4GS » Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:10 am

2-1 either way seems a popular score.
7 out of 13 games have finished with this score.
First match : 04.01.1975 home v Cambridge Utd F.A.Cup 3rd Round 1-0 Clarke
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