Instead, the first fifteen minutes or so of the second half were poor. There’s no sugar-coating it, no trying to offer an excuse. We were poor. Morecambe came out all guns blazing, playing nice football, and we looked overrun. Thi isn’t a Morecambe side packed with top players either – Jordan Slew, for instance, was once believed to be targetted by us and has since played for Boston. Tom Bloxham is on loan from struggling Shrewsbury in our division; Joel Senior had just 15 Football League matches to his credit before he joined Morecambe. What they are is a side that works for each other, far greater than the sum of their parts.
The second goal is, in my opinion, even worse than the first. Eli King, on loan from Cardiff, mugged TJ, who was trying to play out from the back. He took the ball off him with all the ease of taking sweets from Woolies Pick n’ Mix (if you know, you know). There was still a lot to do (if by a lot, I mean ‘play a ball to their winger in acres of space). If the pass had found Bloxham on the face of the moon, I think he’d have had less time. Three players had gravitated towards Mellon, but none towards Bloxham. Burroughs, given license to drop into midfield when we had the ball, was caught in the middle of nowhere, and the right flank was just open, gaping like the Grand Canyon of right flanks.
We had gone from 1-0 up and completely comfortable to 2-1 down and heading out of the cup. It was at this point my Dad said I’d spoken too soon. I didn’t argue back. There wasn’t a lot I could have said.
After that, we could easily have conceded again. O’Connor cleared off the line, something I thought he looked likely to do for their goal but didn’t. We were ragged, with no player looking comfortable with the new setup once we shifted to being under pressure. We did settle eventually, but for a moment, we were on the ropes. I felt when we gained a bit of composure, it was too late – the crowd had already been turned. The positivity from what was a solid first half evaporated, and the only thing that stopped louder dissension was the lack of people in the seats around me.
From their spell of pressure, I felt there were 20 minutes of nothingness before we seemed to spring into life. We made a couple of changes, but I’m really surprised we didn’t see Shodipo. We didn’t really run at them, rarely dipped a shoulder and tried to beat a man. I think in times like those when you’re 2-1 down against a side that knows how to defend, something has to change in the approach, and I’m not sure it did.
However, let’s not just paint it black and move on, I felt we did come to life in the latter stages of the game. I know you’re reading this thinking, ‘Which game did I watch‘ but I watched the same one as you. I’ve just let my anger subside a little and tried to watch it back through neutral eyes. You see, rose-tinted glasses can sometimes be a good thing because home fans can often become too negative and too entrenched in their narrative of it being ‘woeful’ or whatever other hyperbole it is easy to get out on social media within minutes of the game finishing. I’m not being critical of you, by the way, as I was guilty of it too. Two or three times, I deleted a post I’d typed out from the comfort of Dad’s van, fearing that I might be a little hasty in condemning the team.
I thought we had a solid penalty shout on Hamilton at one stage, but I can’t watch it back as Wyscout doesn’t cover FA Cup matches. We had a couple of delicious deliveries into the box from Duffy, one player who did try and run at them a bit. I do wonder if we’d had Shodipo on the other side for the final ten if we might have affected change – I don’t know. Some of those late crosses were begging for a striker’s touch but didn’t get one.
Having watched the rather sparse BBC highlights, I haven’t seen the two late chances that went wide to the left of Adam Smith’s goal, I think through Makama and Jackson, but I’d be lying if I said I was sure. The keeper was also beaten late in the second half, with the inside of the post saving him, as we did apply a certain amount of pressure later on. I’m not saying it was scintillating, nor that we deserved anything from the game; we didn’t really trouble their keeper, Adam Smith, despite having more shots. Did you know Smith is actually a former Imp – he had a loan spell here in 2012 without making an appearance. I didn’t. He didn’t really need to be there yesterday, given how many of our shots went wide.
That said, I do think we were worthy of a replay, so I am saying we deserved something from the game. I’m not taking anything away from Morecambe, but I felt on the balance of chances, both sides deserved a couple of goals, and whilst I don’t begrudge them their win, I do think anyone watching all 28 shots (12 for them, 16 for us) would find it hard to conclude that a draw wasn’t the most likely outcome. However (and you may shoot me down here), a replay would have been the worst outcome, given our fixture congestion, the lack of a head coach, and the injury situation. I never wanted to get beaten, of course, I don’t, but I can see the silver lining to the cloud that is another early FA Cup exit.
It wasn’t to be and for a good 12 hours after the final whistle, I was mad and couldn’t see the woods for the trees. I know there will be some of you reading this, itching to get on social media and tell me why I’m wrong. That’s fine; that’s your opinion which I respect. Please, make sure you respect mine as well.
However, the bottom line is this – we are out of the FA Cup after a game I felt we could have won. I think it has laid bare the need for a bit of direction in terms of a permanent head coach as well. It’s a bit obvious to say that, but we need someone to come in with a couple of fresh ideas and a bit of a plan on how to progress. I still believe we have a good squad of players, and despite what seems to be an emerging narrative doubtless fuelled by our former head coach’s comments after Burton, I don’t think there’s an attitude problem. I think there’s a lack of direction right now, a feeling that maybe the interim period and initial bounce are beginning to fade, but it’s salvageable, without a doubt.
Looking beyond the sideshow that is the BDSM Trophy or whatever it is called now, we have a game against Port Vale next weekend that can just give us a little boost. They’ve been without a league win since September 17th. They lost to Cheltenham in their last league game, and perhaps it could be a good way for Tom Shaw to sign off from his temporary stint in charge. I do think it is the final game that we should reasonably expect to be without a permanent appointment, given that there’s a full week after that without a game going into Stevenage.
One thing is for certain – we get more than a week off in December, going from November 28th (Cambridge away) to December 9th (Wigan away) without a game. I can’t help but think that little spell will be a good chance to hit reset, get some work done under a new head coach, and hopefully give us a little kick into 2024.