Manager Jim Bentley and his Shrimpers squad make the long trip from the lancashire coast to the Devon coast looking to get some consistency back into their results and seeking to bounce back from the disappointing loss to Rotherham on tuesday night after being a goal up. Morecambe are an unpredictable side who are just as likely to win at Plainmoor than lose, they have had some great results away this season winning at Exeter, Accy, Bristol Rovers, Rochdale as well as beating Blackpool away in the first round of the league cup. The crucial stat for this game is that both Kevin Ellison AND Richard Brodie, both prolific scorers at this level, will not be taking part as they are both serving suspensions. This leaves our opponents light in the attacking department although they do have Jack Redshaw who is their top scorer with 6 goals in all comps.
Morecambe lie in 14th place in league 2 on 18 points and the last time we met at Plainmoor it was 1-1. They do have a squad with lots of experience including keeper Barry Roche and defender Will Haining but they also have inexperience too including 21 year old Jordan Mustoe who was signed on a months loan from Wigan Athletic and Ryan Williams, a former Chester and Rhyl midfielder who was added on a short term contract. The only players i remember playing for both us and Morecambe from memory are Kieran Charnock and Craig Stanley but i'm sure you lot out there will post if you know of any others.
Last time out v Rotherham
1. Barry Roche (gk)
2. Nick Fenton
3. Jordan Mustoe ( on loan from Wigan Athletic )
4. Will Haining
5. Andrew Wright
6. Chris McCready
7. Kevin Ellison
8. Stewart Drummond
9. Andrew Fleming
10. Gary McDonald
11. Jack Redshaw
SUBS: Andreas Aristidou UNUSED GK, Dan Parkinson UNUSED, Andy Parrish UNUSED, Chris Doyle UNUSED, Izak Reid ( on for McCready on 75 mins ), Joe Mcgee UNUSED, Jordan Burrow ( on for Redshaw on 70 mins )
A tricky game to call this one, Morecambe on paper don't have a standout squad of players and with the 'big two' missing through suspension it looks as if it is a golden opportunity to exploit that and take the points. We have to wary of their away form however just as they have to be wary of our home form. According to a stats website ( no link bix as i don't know how to do it! ) we have earned 71% of our points tally this season at home BUT it also says that we have conceded at least 1 goal in 86% of our home games. I think a clean sheet is long overdue and i think we'll get one, i'm going for a narrow 1-0 win for the Gulls courtesy of that man again SUPER RENE HOWE!
The match ref is Mr Carl Berry and his assistants are Mr Adam Hopkins and Mr Mark Russell. The 4th official, mentioned only to reinforce his image of self importance is Mr Adam Bromley. So two Adams, Hopkins and Bromley.
Apologies for the thread being a little light on humour but firstly i don't really have too much time, secondly it's a home game and there isn't really much i can add in terms of the place we are visiting, ground etc because it's at Torquay which you all know is a minute town stuck away from civilisation where all it's inhabitants have extra limbs, and thirdly you don't deserve it forthe way you've all barracked me the other day re Billy! So.................... :na:
Oh and plus, it's only Morecambe. A quite uninspiring opponent if they can forgive me saying that.
I just hope that there will be healthy crowd there, should be with it being a saturday and the glory hunters returning off the back of a win over the league leaders. I don't know, you just can't please some people can you? :Oops:
I've learnt more about chemicals than my chemistry teacher could ever teach me.