Thetownend.com

To take our thoughts away from off the field stuff, we have a game on Saturday at Morecambe.

Last night Morecambe were soundly thrashed 3-0 at home by Liverpool U21s with apparently a pretty poor performance. They played a fairly strong side too with the majority of the players played against Gills on Saturday in their 2-1 defeat there either starting or coming off the bench.

In the 8 previous games between Swindon and Morecambe - Swindon have come out on top winning 7 of the ties and the other ending as a draw, Town scoring 15 goals and conceding 2 in the process.

In games played in Morecambe so far Swindon have won all 3, each game finishing as 1-0 win for Town.

They have ex Town keeper Stuart Moore in goal, a man classed as one of our poorest custodians in modern times (there have a been a LOT though) playing just 10 games for us and despite keeping 3 clean sheets and conceding just over a goal a game average he always looked unsteady and capable of a major calamity at any moment.

Since leaving us he has played for MKD, Wealdstone, Blackpool and Doncaster, amassing just 10 games in the last 5 years at EFL league level before joining The Shrimps but has played in 6 games for Morecambe so far this season.

Morecambe sit currently in 16th place in L2 with 3 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats so far, socring 7 goals and conceding 8 times.

They are unbeaten at home so far in their 4 league games with 3 wins and a draw so far.

Their top scorer is 19 year old Burnley loanee Michael Mellon on 5 goals with 3 other players on a single goal each.
Top scorer Mellon will be banned for the game after being sent off last week vs Gills, he looks a decent player from what I have seen of him.

Their results so far this season have been.

W Morecambe 2-1 Walsall
L Rotherham 1-1 Morecambe lost on pens*EFLC
L Mansfield 3-0 Morecambe
D Morecambe 0-0 Notts County
W Morecambe 3-0 Bradford
L Harrogate 2-0 Morecambe
W Morecambe 1-0 Salford
L Gillingham 2-1 Morecambe
L Morecambe 0-3 Liverpool *EFLT

They tend to play a 4231 system and let other teams have the possession against them and hit them on the break and put a few long balls out to the wingers, defensively from the highlights I have watched of every game they are quite slow  accross the back 4.

Could go either way.

Att: 4,005 (555 Town)

Piece of piss, 1-4

Morecambe 2 Swindon 2 Att: 4,185 (650 away)

Some of their fans reckon it could be off if the predicted weather pans out

They must be applying the following proven science to their weather predictions up there.

"If the goose honks high, fair weather; if the goose honks low, foul weather. Birds flying low, expect rain and a blow. If the lark flies high, expect fair weather."

I'm sat about 7 miles from Morecambe as the crow flies (but a hell of a lot further as the car or train goes), we've had a fair bit of rain but not as much as many other places have had, and whilst more is forecast over the next few days there doesn't appear to be any proper downpours forecast.

Never say never, but as it stands I would be surprised if it was off, albeit I don't know how shitty or otherwise their pitch is, but its a newish ground so should drain OK?

‘Win or lose,
Shit or bust
Never let your bollocks dangle in the dust’

We said the same when it started pissing down at Colchester ;)

TBF the forecast was wrong, its hooning it down here this morning!

Met office says dry from 17:00 up to kick off tomorrow. Surely be fine?  :badmood:

Just to say for those that like to predict the attendance numbers I noticed on Twitter yesterday that we had sold 551 of our 600 allocation yesterday and no tickets are available on the day for some reason.

I think we will win tomorrow, i'm on family visiting duties in Kent/Sussex this weekend so missing another game, which means we're even more likely to win.

Oh I couldnt find our allocation anywhere TBH, cheers mate.

They’ve got the 2nd best home record in the league, can’t think who’s 1st!

Only conceded 1 goal at home.

JJ - not sure if you use Twitter - but if you follow 'Swindon Town Football Club Ticketing' (@stfcticket) they are pretty good at providing ticketing updates.

600 capacity in the away section of side stand apparently.

Must be trying to save some pence by not using the terrace, although looked to be inhabited by home fans last season in L1.
Might have given it over to clubs with big away followings.

They're 3rd, we are 2nd.....
Creepy are top  :eek:

Cheers BO no i never use Twitter other than getting team news at 2pm on matchdays :)

Which is incredible considering we have been gash at home for several seasons prior to this one.

I predict a 2-1 victory to Morecambe.

I was doing some research and found a few interesting stats.

Average age of L2 squads.

Oldest average age of squads
Sutton    28.7
Mansfield 27.8
Wrexham   27.4
N County  27.0

Youngest average age of squads
Crewe Alex 23.0
Swindon T  23.1
Colchester 23.4
Accrington 23.4

Top 4 assists
Kemp (Swindon) 4
Quinn (Mansfield) 4
Young (Swindon) 3
Austin (Swindon) 3

Highest amount of yellow cards
Crawley 27
FGR 26
Walsall 24
Morecambe 22
18th (Swindon 17)

Highest amount of red cards
Salford 3
Morecambe 2
(Swindon 0)

Average total goals per game
Swindon 4.71
Wrexham 4.38
Crewe 4.00
20th (Morecambe 2.14)

19 penalties have been given so far with 13 converted.
Harrogate have been awarded 3 already and converted 2, AFCW have been awarded 3 and scored 1. Morecambe have a 100% success rate of 1 and Swindon have yet to be awarded a pen.

Swindon are leading scorers in L2 with 22 goals, Morecambe are 17th with just 7 goals so far.

Ironically Gills in 1st place have the 23rd highest goals for with just 6 and bottom is Harrogate on just 5 goals so far.

Notts County so far have used just 18 players, Swindon have used 1 more on 19 with Wrexham having used 26 players so far.

Gillinghams Jake Turner has kept 5 clean sheets
Murphy Mahoney is equal 2nd on 3 clean sheets.

Shots total
Mansfield  150
Wrexham    149
AFCW       125
FGR        121
Crawley    119
Accrington 115
Stockport  109
Swindon    106
(24th Morecambe 61)

Sots on target
Wrexham   60
Mansfield 49
Swindon   45
Crawley   40
(24th Morecambe 18)

Goals per shot
Swindon 0.21
Crewe   0.18
Franchise  0.15
Notts C 0.15
(12th Morecambe 0.10)

Offsides against
Accrington 24
Swindon    20
Mansfield  19
Sutton     18
(Morecambe 24th 5)

Most crosses
Remeao Hutton 64

Most interceptions
Hills - Accrington 21
Brewitt - Swindon  20

Most shots on target
Davis Keillor-Dunn - Mansfield    16
James Tilley - AFC Wimbledon     14
Jake Young - Swindon Town         12
Macaulay Langstaff - Notts C       12
Elliot Lee - Wrexham                   11
Omari Patrick - Sutton United      11
Will Evans - Newport County       10
Daniel Kemp - Swindon Town        9
Charlie Austin - Swindon Town      9

150 shots per game, Mansfield fans are getting their moneys worth  :D

Slip of the fingers.

Is this a slight dig from Flynn

‘ We might not have all the equipment or staff, but we do it to the best of our ability.’

Oh dear. Let's hope he isn't catching Morrisitis.

Any ideas on which/if pub(s) have been allocated for away fans?

There was this in the local rag the other week https://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/national/morecambe-fc-partners-with-promenade-bar-to-be-official-away-fans-venue-4272589

I don't think there are any pubs anywhere near the ground OTTOMH.

No.

One right next to ground - pub / restaurant lets both sets of fans in.
Leaving in a minute - safe journey to all travelling ⚽️

Have a great day Banbury... just wish I was there to join you
COYMRs

Always another time Mate.
Harwell massive 😂⚽️

Pre match what do you think of it so far in The Eric Bartholomew.
Well, it certainly hasn't been rubbish so far & we've been basking in the sunshine brought to us by the team.

Rest assured that there won't be any short fat hairy legs on display today, at least not on the pitch anyway.
Anyway, enough of the Morecambe & Wise references.

Quite like Morecambe, the faded Victorian grandeur looks even more faded with every visit.
Prefer it to Blackpool though.
Nice walk to be had along the prom & always a chance of a Tyson Fury sighting.

In the company of young molepar & his band of converts today.
A work very hard, play even harder approach means that survival is the aim of the game assuming that the black pudding with breakfast doesn't get me first. At least I'll go out with a high iron content.

Fourth visit here & hopefully the symmetry of 1-0 wins can continue.
Tom Brewitt's old stomping ground as well so he'll be wanting to do well.
Flynn too, following the PO final defeat a couple of years back.

Hopefully potted shrimps won't be the new celery in the away end today.

Win at home, draw away that's all it takes.

Washed down with a pint of Guinness?

Morecambe is one of the very few away visits I've never done, that will continue today as while I'm 'at home' until the end of October I'm actually in Spain this week.  I'll get there one day, maybe not if this is a successful season and we go our seperate ways for the foreseeable. 

Have a good day those that are going, top of the league at 17:00?  Maybe not given Gills and County's fixtures, as long as we keep keeping up our end of the bargain is all that matters though.

Ha, yes.
Apparently it woukd take about 29 pints to meet the daily iron requirement.

Only ever had Guiness in Dublin, probably not quite the same outside of the Emerald Isle.

We used to be the highest Official Guinness Pub in the world, we even had a plaque at St James's Gate for some time.  I forget where it is that has taken the title from us, probably somewhere in Peru or Chile.  Useless part fact of the day.

So, team selection for today?

Team pretty much picks itself at the moment.

Flynn doesn't strike me as much of a tinkerer.
Depends on how Morecambe play but I wonder if putting RHM in for some more pace on the counter crossed the manager's mind?
Then again Young is no slouch.

As you were then.

I don't think we'll make any changes, although wouldn't be surprised to see RHM come on a little earlier than he has been if we aren't already whooping them at half time.

I'm going for a comfortable 3-1 win.

0-2 don’t care who scores. Two own goals would do.

Not sure if it's an Official Guiness Pub, but he highest irish pub could well be The Irish Pub in Namche Bazaar in Nepal.  Paddy’s Irish Pub in Cusco, Peru claims to be the highest Irish-owned pub in the world, at 11,156 feet/ 3,400 meters.

Another irrelevant fact...

Just want to keep this momentum going. Any win and don't pick up injuries.

Whereabouts are you?

I was thinking this. We need to be sensible with Austin’s playing minutes. Fixtures will become more congested. RHM has looked a menace in the pacy sub role.

However, I cannot shake the feeling that every game could be RHM’s last of the season with some sort of horrible injury setback.

This is a weird league this season with any team being able to beat any other team it seems.

Some funny results like Gills losing ro Grimsby and Colchester, Notts County losing 5-1 vs Sutton and Wrexham losing 5-3 at home to MKD.

Only us and Mansfield in this league unbeaten and I would be happy to have that continue after today.

I would be happy with a draw but they seem short on firepower with their leading scorer Mellon missing with suspension today, he has contributed 5 of their 8 goals so far, so only 3 other players have scored a single goal each.

But they are unbeaten at home so it will be tough and only Mansfield have scored more than 2 goals past them in a league game and they have only conceded a single goal at home in the league too.

Wobbly
You must be one of the most fortunate people in the UK.
The love of football (STFC) and enjoyment of good beer

A glance at their forum and they seem generally pessimistic about their chances. Lots predicting a home loss.

Mostly due to top scorer Mellon being suspended as he has scored 63% of all their goal so far.

Yup, a fair few mentions of Mellon. They have suggested that their best chances might come from hitting us on the break, which plenty of our fans have echoed.

Yeah can see that happening. Something we need to be wary of today.

ATM at mum and dad's place near Mojacar, not a million miles from you but when talking about the bar, still in Val Thorens, 2300 meters.


You have to be selling a certain amount to be considered 'Official' I believe, I'd always said there will be somewhere selling Guinness much higher than we are, just not as much as us.  Guinness is a bother at altitude, we have to waste so much of it due to the change in pressure, still tastes good though, which is the main thing.

I would much prefer they at least tried to look like the home side. We did not have an answer to the Doncaster low block, even with the extra man. Could be a frustrating one today.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F6tiVlZWMAAMcdw?format=webp&name=900x900)

Unchanged again, only change is Kinsella back on the bench for Ben Ward.

Is it me or does it feel like we’re way more than just 7 games into the season.

Yes but I suppose we are 9 games in with the cup games, if the opening day fixture had gone ahead it would be 10 games in.

Still hard to believe sometimes we’re wondering if we can get 3 points off Morecambe!

Depressing.

TBH they were relegated last season from L1 and they are unbeaten at home so far.

Flynn saying two players have been training with us with good pedigree for their age. No contact offered to either yet have to wait and see!

Probably coz we've scored our normal 20 games' worth already!

He also said he may just wait until January to add to the squad if he has to.

Quite impressed we can leave a senior player off the matchday squad at the moment.

Hawes saying we've sold lots of tickets for the Reading game!

Johnathan Smith on co comms today!

True but its easy for forget hes a few months younger than Minturn though.

Glad Minturn has made the bench ahead of him as I think he is a better player.

I have been unimpressed so far with what we have seen of Ward, Minturn is at least the same level if not a bit further ahead of him and probably more versatile too.

Seems a questionable signing

Ward is left footed, so he does serve as cover for a slightly different role to Minturn. But yes, not a stellar signing so far.

I see Morecambe have Britains fastest striker Jordan Slew playing for them today.

He was caught driving at 156 mph in his BMW M4 on A1 in Cambs.

Looks completely out of his depth at LWB though. Probably shouldn't say I think Minturn is a better player given how little I've actually seen of Ward at Centre Back.

He did play vs Arsenal at CB and he looked a bit better than at LWB but he didnt dominate.

BBC Wilts have also asked for an interview with Clem but he's not yet responded.

Irrelevant point: The padded seat are at today's game

Fuck me.   The comm on my feed sounds like some Harry Potter character.   Going to be horrible listening to his whistlely voice.   :no:

Thats a "Northern twang" :D

To be fair he’s just done a Q&A, and from what I’ve heard he really doesn’t like doing those things so not a real surprise

In America it’s the southerners that have the twang to their voice

Corner to Town.

Austin shot blocked, another corner.

I hate playing teams that are red.  It confuses me.   :zipped:

I think he would have to watch his language on the BBC😀

Hutton makes a mistake as he breaks and they win a corner.

town fans in good voice

Morecambe 10 behind the ball😀

Hutton loses the ball for the 2nd time in 2 mins, gets it mixed up between his feet.

Slow and sloppy so far

Decent turn out looks close to being sold out in the corner.

their Comms even think the plan will be to hit us on the break

Morecambe letting us play and make our own mistakes and hit us on the counter.

We can be quite accommodating :D

Pretty slow sloppy passing by us so far, not like us to give it away so cheaply this much.

Awful short pass by Dokes to Hutton there straight into touch from 6 yards away.

haven't got the front 2 involved at all yet

What a move that was!

1-0 Kemp.

Liquid football

Oh my word!!!!

Great move by Town, lovely cross by Young to Kemps head 3 yards out.

Morecombe are pressing us well

But it’s 1-0

ok we have now!!!

We need to stay focused😡

Great save by Mahoney. And they hit the post after.

I just changed into my lucky red shirt to go out and it worked.   :beers:

Your welcome.  ;D

Great move for the goal. Crisp passing, cracking movement and a very fine cross.

Shakey at the back though, Christ!

Think you could argue Morecombe have been the better side apart from the 10 seconds before we scored

Morecambe have come alive.

that's quality for you!

yarp. weather the storm town

The Shrimps commentator is called Salmon.  :girlgiggle:

Brewitt gets his body in front of a long shot and it goes out for a corner.

He sleeps with the fishes.

We are definitely potent.

We’ve been second best all game apart from 10 seconds

They're clearly no mugs

Great long diagonal by Austin to Hutton.

Is that what their women’s team is called??

McEachran nearly releases Young with a long pass but the keeper gets to it.

Probably the Krill!

There's a home fan near the effects mic who is making his thoughts quite clear.

They do look threatening don't they. not got it right yet thankfully

Hutton not having his best game so far to say the least.

Oh my that was another beautiful move and Austin really should have scored.

Austin inches wide after chipping the keeper after a great move.

oh Charlie

Young is being battered constantly by their CB Beadeu.

Johnathan Smith is a decent co commentator

Its end to end stuff.

No twitter clips this week?

Poor poor cross by Uwakwe.

Hutton cross to Young and the keeper fluffs it but still saves it...just.

1-1😡

1-1

This Austin fella looks like another one of those Adeloye type players who works hard, but just doesn’t have the composure in front of goal.

It’s been coming. Cant say they haven’t deserved this

Good cross that

Godwin-Malife caught wrong side of his man.

not great making

Supersub RHM's time will come in the 2nd half ;)

Morecambe big defence is mopping up almost all of the long balls played at them but look so slow when we pass it on the deck.

We've been by far the better side I would say, but they've had their chances too. Bit harsh on us 1-1, but they've created their chances.

I can't even say we look our usual bad self in defense because its mostly been genuine created chances by them and they don't look a bad side.

We do have a tendency to take our foot off the gas about 30 mins in though.

Another chance for them ends in a corner.

I agree, they dont look that good we are just a bit weak still defensively. I think we are "mostly" controlling the game still and we have 65% possession so far.

They are dangerous on the counter attack though.

My turn with the rose tinted specs 2nd half.

I think we’ve been pants. Awfully slow and just walking with the ball waiting for Morecambe to open up and let us pass through them.

They’ve been industrious off the ball and used the ball a lot more effectively than we have.

Yep, think Morecambe have been a lot better than you’re giving them credit for.

Kemp shoots but its way to close to the keeper, easy save.

3 mins added.

Hutton deep cross finds Uwakwe near the other touchline whos ball back is a clearance for them!

HT 1-1

Stockport 3 Wrexham 0  :D

Decent game, Morecambe look an organised side without the top level quality we have in Kemp/Young/Austin. Can go a long way on organisation though, look at Stevenage last season or us under Sturrock.

When do I get my happy clappers badge?

 :girlgiggle:

They look like the first team that have actually watched us play and come up with a game plan of how to nullify us…

It's up to us to have a plan B

I agree totally.

I think our plan b is RHM isn’t it?

You're right as long as that dosen't get too predictable

We should be 3-1 up

Or 3-2 with their shot that hit the post when it seemed easier to score.

Kemp and Austin both missed great chances.

I got 2-2 in my prediction league

This is where I was coming from. Most of the teams we play look shit and its a case of can we hold it together enough to be better. Morecambe look alright.

We definitely could be, but they've created their chances as well. We've had the better of them though.

Absolutely, they are a solid mid table side that have a slow massive defence who hit teams on the break. It works but I would hate to see us play that way as we did under Flitcroft.

Charlie should really have made it 2-0.

Plan A seems to be working well enough in attack tbh.

They are trying to press us, we have had some problems getting out, we we hit it long, they are hoovering that up easily.

I think we are looking the better side. More good chances than them, but our defensive organisation at times doesn’t look right.

COYR

Corner to Town.

The problem is better sides may well punish us if we continue to give away so many chances.

Uwakwe with a good low shot thats saved.

Understatement of the day :)

Defensively we are both brilliant at times and equally abysmal at times!

Completely forgot the Morecambe keeper played for us!

Brilliant shot. Normally see those clear the stand in league two

Kemp flattened by the defender.

Good chance for them on the counter but the finish was awful. Luckily.

Save by Mahoney, Morecambe left a foot in on McEachran and hes down injured.

Standard sub that, isn't it. Whether we're winning, drawing or losing that is the sub to make just depends when.

I wouldn't call it a plan b, unless its a change in formation and going three up top somehow! And even then you need Austin to play 90.

Morecambe are nothing like a Flitcroft side.

Austin header wide of the target.

I disagree.

About time Morecambe had a booking.

Wrexham 4-0 down at Stockport

Penalty to Town.

Another yellow for them.

2nd yellow for Songo'o.

2-1 Austin.

Playing against 10 again. Is that the third or fourth time already this season?

We need to tighten up now 2-1 will do

4th.

We're get a reputation 😀

Charlie to score 3rd goal 5/1 get in my son!!!

5/1 is quite mean odds on that

Picked the wrong time to put the washing out…

Young so close again.

i got ours in at half time😀

Young 11/2 to score next. Why not?(unless he gets subbed!)

Parkinson won't be there long

Hutton low shot from 20 yards a yard wide.

RHM and Shade getting changed ready to come on.

RHM and Shade on
Uwakwe and Young off.

How much do you think it I’ll take before Clem gives in and Flynn is off to Wrectum.

Missed the penalty decision as my ifollow had paused a few times and I decided to refresh to catch up. Saw the penalty though.

Did think if this pen doesn't go in we might be in trouble in breaking these down. Now they at least have to try and attack.

I maintain we've done ok today. We've not looked fluid going forward but that is mainly a credit to Morecambe.

Probably need another to put this to bed.

Anything is possible.....

 :crash:

The North Welsh hate the South Welsh like Flynn.

Kiss of death :D

Young off instead of Austin is interesting. Is Austin playing 90 or will Shade or Kemp move up top when Austin goes off?

I never knew that

Austin so close to releasing Kemp, the defender just gets to it first with Kemp clean away.

McEachran has learnt the ability to tackle this season, made a great interception there on the edge of our box.

(https://i.imgflip.com/1haoyh.jpg?a470904)

RHM close to shooting but we get a corner.

Austin just onside on the break but his cross is too short to Kemp, great chance.

Ah well, RHM it is then!

2 great chances for Town by Austin and Hutton there.

That was a bit frantic.

Still wondering who these "better sides" are going to be to be honest

FA Cup 3rd round :D

Gills, Mansfield and Notts County I would suggest.

Morecambe make 5 subs.

Stockport too

Like a welsh groundskeeper Willie. Damn Welsh, ruined Wales.

Sure are contentious people.

Notts County have scored 4 so far today and currently top.

Khan’s not been great today.

Poor foul by Khan on the edge of the box, yellow card.

Khan has been both brilliant and awful at times today.

Yeh but FGR have scored 3

2-2

ffs. fucking football

Naive

...or Morecambe!😥

Rubbish from Brewitt.

I rest my case :D

Just logged in…..
2-2 vs 10 men. Have we been shit?

On paper teams like Franchise.

Who are below us and not doing great.

Good save by Mahoney.

They’ve been decent to be fair.

Would like to see Cain start next game. Did well last time he started.

Morecambe really going for it, we should have killed them off when we had the chances.

I wouldn’t say we’ve been shit but we haven’t been good either.

Morecambe have clearly done their homework, have been extremely lively and well organised with a bit of quality as well.

We are not showing enough composure on the ball since the subs.

5 subs was massive amounts of bollocks.

We need some sort of ideas off the bench but the small squad we have isn't loaded with options here.

We havent been able to utilise RHM's pace so far yet as they are defending far deeper so he cant make his runs behind them.

Much longer left?

6 mins added.

RHM unmarked heads well wide.

Really bad sub, unless there is an injury or fitness issue with Young.

Easy to say in hindsight but I kind of thought that at the time.

Cain on for McEachran.

Careful. The hairband fan club will be after you.

Clayton will be back soon!

Really hard to name a man of the match today. Performance littered with errors and a lack of control.

Shade long low shot easy save.

Late sub that one. Could have come on earlier instead of taking Young off which was puzzling.

Yellow for Kemp, silly foul.

Absolutely.

FT 2-2

Could have and should realyl have won, but still unbeaten in the league, 8 games now.

Nobody was awful but nobody outstanding today either.

frustrating

Very disappointing that.

the only "win" today  >:(

Yep, the "Brewitt is shit" brigade have been waiting for ages for him to make a mistake! 🙂

Well, wasn’t our best game and it’ll be easy to go into what we didn’t do well or what we did badly but I genuinely thought Morecambe were decent and the better side through out the large majority of that game and they deserved the point.

They’re no mugs & still unbeaten at home.

Disappointing we need to know how to control games and stop giving goals away

I blame Horlock

Frustrating but Morecambe played their part.

Most of the criticism is for Flynns subs for me.

Still unbeaten. Win Saturday and we can put it behind us.  

Made enough good chances to outscore them today, disappointing.

Good sign so far that our bad days have still brought us points.

Create plenty, good forward players technically speaking, a bit of zip in some forward moves.

Defence that seems very poor at it's primary job of defending.  Midfield that refuses to provide any sort of shield and put bodies properly on the line in tracking runs and nobody (that I have seen thus far) that looks much kop at LWB.  For clarity, Shade is shit.

Should have won, could have lost.  

We have so much trouble against 10. Not good enough today, Young not on his a-game again, Austin wayward, no one really good. Least poor FBT, McEachran and Mahoney.

Imagine Flynn won't hold back in post match interview

Agreed.

Even so, at 1-0 and at 2-1 we played well enough to make a number of chances to give ourselves the 2 goal cushion we needed.  Too hurried in front of goal and - inevitably - paid the price.

Austin was fantastic today in our own box.
He must have cleared about 90% of the set pieces Morecambe sent into our box - which was probably about 15 just from corners…

Disappointing, would have been nice to have taken 3 points from that (and ideally next week) before we head into a tough run of games in October.

Bury one of those Austin and Young chances and we win, avoid that Brewitt mishap at the end and we win. Blame at both ends. Small margins but we’re league two and these games separate the auto’s from the rest I feel.

Crawley above us in the league🤣

True dat

I agree, he does a great job defending.  Wouldn't it be nice to have one of the five defenders able to do that job so he could just focus on scoring.

What was the attendance🤔

Take your point but even if we had better defenders Austin is still going to get called back for set pieces

Obviously disappointed to drop two points away from home, however, all things considered I’m not going to complain. You’d all have taken where we are now before the start of the season.

Yes, it won’t be easy maintaining this level with the small squad we have taking into account injuries and suspensions. Definitely one game at a time.

Pleased to remain unbeaten but we seem unable to be ruthless in these situations. Morecambe commentator called Hutton Hudson half the time and it was always ‘the veteran Charlie Austin’.

If we can remain in and around the top 3 after my 3 week break I’ll be chuffed.

Once again game management missing and feels like a loss.
Morecambe no mugs, will take a fair few wins at home this season.

Like Donny feels disappointing but we are undefeated.

Haha. He's waltzed past far too easily from the clip I've seen. Again our defensive shape was all over the place for that 2nd goal.

That Crawley, who looked like one of the worst teams I’ve ever seen at the CG, are above us tells you everything you need to know about this league.

I heard Jonathan Smith saying they've made more passes than any other team in Europe but no idea if that is correct or not.

So do I

The overwhelming feeling is of disappointment of course and rightly so. But I thought we looked a bloody good side for large parts of that game and I feel pretty good about where we're heading on the field (off the field is a totally different matter obviously)

Rob summed it up perfectly.... Should have won, could have lost. Credit to Morecambe for playing their part in a decent game...

Any flyn interview up yet.

That is hash, they have played one more game, they have a 0 GD, been beaten twice, one of which was the  6-0 thrashing by us. It may be a shit league so we’re on the same page there but let us see where they and us are end of January.

Yes, my point is it’s a shit league and there for the taking!

Yep,same with Gillingham

I don't think League 2 last season was anything special

Mostly along their back four, just like any other Lindsey team. Not impressive.

Although I am surprised they're doing as well as they are.

Darcy on a roll as well

It's like them and Salford need to swap places!

It's looking like Luke Williams has come back well

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xafalzcM660

Last season was awful. Expected it to be extremely more difficult this year. It is more difficult but nowhere near as more as I was expecting.

That's how I see it although still early days.

Cost me over £200. Cheers, STFC!

Regarding the calibre of L2 this season there were plenty of doomongers predicting we’d struggle. Well so far these heretics have been proven wrong.

Do you have to log into a Sky account for the attendances or do you google it🤔

Nice to know 'the gaffer' saw it pretty much as I did...

I do like his openness in post match interviews

It appears on twitter

Cheers Aud

have to say I put us down for mid table this season and am being made to eat my words..

I had Jake Young down as a massive punt, not writing him off at such, but more likely a flop than not.

Kemp has been a supreme. I was pissed off at losing Williams but he's come in and made a massive difference far in excess of Williams in terms of team influence.

That's not to say I think Williams isn't a good player, just we found more of what we needed. MKD must be nuts.

A brilliant start to the season, but also a long way to go with the obvious issue in a few months to navigate

Yeah Kemp is miles over Williams. Young was a bit of an unknown signing, wasn't he? Some was writing him off, I hadn't a clue what to expect. It certainly didn't look like a higher goalscorer than Austin on the face of it.

Its a brilliant start but very early days.

At half time I'd have taken a point, have to be disappointed to be leading against 10 men and not winning at the end though.

Thought it was a good game, two decent sides. We played some fantastic stuff at times, some of the link up play was great. Could/should have scored a few more.
Morecambe definitely no mugs though and posed a threat on many occasions.

There's a lot to like about this group, it's definitely going to be an entertaining season. FBT, Kemp and McEachran the pick of the bunch for me today.

Morecambe fans I spoke too before/after seemed a decent bunch too. Not a bad atmosphere at times for the 3000odd either compared to many clubs we visit.

Didn’t learn anything new from that. Look great going forward. Midfield just completely anonymous for me at far too many points in game. Said it from day one- I don’t care about the “style”, you need a defensive mid stopping things, Khan and Mceachran very good technical players but they cancel each other out for me. Mahoney crap distribution and not the first time we’ve said this. Definitely shoulda made it 3/4, the 5 subs & their end behind goal really got behind them and that’s what swayed it for me. Decent support from them and a class effort from us, decent noise throughout. 2 points dropped but Not the worst result, just beat Grimsby.

I think we need to accept our defence is going to be shit, that’s half the reason we look so good going forward. It’s all or nothing.

There have been times over the last few weeks FBT and Dokes have been ahead of Austin and Young. We are going to concede goals unfortunately.

I’m all for it.

Enjoy the organised chaos.

It’s quite weird as we should have 24 points but we don’t. I’ll happily take what we have however it should be so much more!

Good shout out to the Morecambe fans, real good decent bunch and never came across one arsehole all day. Lovely older family in pub before the game, all smiles and lovely chat, people at the bar etc.
Lad living in Leicester, studying in Liverpool, a Morecambe fan that goes to every game on train home with us. Very complimentary about Swindon, fans etc.
He said Morecambe are 2 teams. Decent home, awful away.

They played some tidy football going forward, on top for a few periods but we should have seen that game out.

Two points dropped but one point gained.
Morecambe were decent and will take points from the other top teams.

Collective failure for their second.
No need for Charlie to be dropping so deep to pick the ball up.
Keeping possession against 10 is fine but going for the third to finish the game would have been better.
Just didn't move it quickly enough, but credit to Morecambe they made it difficult.

Cracking day all round yesterday.
Interesting to be sat amongst Town fans with broad northern accents!
We are everywhere.

Anyway, the err sunshine break in Morecambe continues today.
Happy days.

Some small observations...

Agree with the 2 points dropped conclusions, we really should have held on.

When we are good, we are bloody good, but it comes in fits and starts at best, and when we aren't on it we get so pedestrian it allows the opposition to easily reset, there were times yesterday that you wondered whether you had missed the ref blowing as things ground to a halt.

For the second, the highlights missed the prolonged period of fucking about at the back that preceded it. The second Charlie fell on his arse (were we not prepared for the pitch or something as Kemp kept falling on his arse as well) my mate said 'they are going to score here' and they did, it was coming and very self inflicted.

Much as with the FGR game, we just seem to miss something between the defence and midfield. I dont think they piss around with it at the back for so long because they want to more because there doesn't seem to be an out ball bar lumping it, and good on them Morecambe had identified that and pressed hard.

Didn't see much from young, but he needs to calm down with the falling over at every opportunity.

Feel a bit for Brewitt, he gets left exposed a lot while the other two fuck off upfield and if the tracking back isn't great at times he was left wrestling one whilst others were breaking with no trackers.

Some of our fans absolutely fucking hate Shade!

Morecambe's number 7 has a strange obsession with his own penis. Watching him play Bobby Big bollocks I assumed he was some experienced pro, turns out he is a 19 year old on loan from Shrewsbury.... considering how wound up he got after a short time, if I was a left back playing against him it would be pretty easy to provoke a red card out of him.

Sure I missed something,  but still not sure how a Morecambe player shanking it high and wide leads to a corner to them?

All in all a good game for the neutrals.

Oh and what was probably nicest, had a good old chat to a fair few fans and ownership, shares, chief executives and companies house wasn't mentioned once!!

Att: 3,737 (568 Town)

Love the attendance stats you provided . Where do you find them?

Good turnout from town, only 32 short of selling the whole allocation, not bad for a 418 mile round trip (thanks to the sign in the toilets for that).

Not really sure why morecambe's crowds are so stubbornly low, it's not like there is other sports in Morecambe/Lancaster that they are up against or other clubs on the doorstep, suspect its down to being a comparatively 'new' league club and still leaking fans to PNE, Blackpool and United.

Our old friend twitter

Yesterday attendance was more than double the combined attendances for the matches between us. 1,559 and 1,655 with the Town contingent for those games being 292 and 472 respectively.

So attendances have more than doubled since 2017 and 2018.

They have acquired around another 1,000 fans. Like us they have had their ownership issues.
As posted previously their fans I met yesterday were class, a real friendly family club I wish them well.

3 Autos in this league.

Win at home and draw away and we will get one of those slots.

Watched the first half, Hutton was giving it away all the time, Young decided to keep falling to the floor despite the ref not giving anything to either side for 'bump' tackles, Austin not on it.

Missed a bucketful of chances in the game.

Frustrating but we are well exceeding my expectations thus far.

I still think we need another striker

Agree. Octobers a packed month, and we'll be without Young for Bradford and miss Kemps creativity for McDons.

An injury for either Austin or RHM next month would be a disaster. Austin will need to play 90mins at Bradford so probably needs to be rested for part of Notts County.

He really was blowing for the last 20 minutes, but actually we generally looked shagged towards the end, Morecambe ran their arses off, genuinely thought they wouldn't be able to keep it up for 90 mins, but with the subs they did!


Better not acquire many more fans or they will have to shell out and actually finish the ground! It still has an air of a part finished ground on a part finished industrial estate, albeit the pub on the throat has helped a bit as will that sodding great big house they are building on the other side of the access road - who builds a multi million quid house immediately on the access to a football ground.

What has frustrated me this season is the passing at snails pace. If we are playing with 10 men, lets move that ball a bit quicker. Sideways/backwards is fine but lets have a bit of urgency.

…have you been watching replays of last seasons games?

You obviously didnt see us under Lindsey last season against 10 men, especially so vs Gills, you could have got a artist to sketch our attacks in real time, Saturday was way way better than last season, although nowhere near the level needed still.

We should have killed them off when it was 2-1 and Austin played such a poor pass to Kemp when he could have cut back and had a shot himself.

This is to lure teams out. It's a common tactic to pass it slow side to side at the back and then explode when the space opens up (Kemp in space is brilliant for this). All the top sides adopt it, probably Man City and Arsenal the best examples in England at the moment.

Thing is, there is slow and there is sloooowww.

As I noted in my comments yesterday, there were times into the latter quarter on Saturday that things ground to a halt so much I thought the ref had blown up for something and I missed it. Morecambe were noticeably just saying fuck it, let them piss around in their own half and not even bothering chasing it down, so it wasn't drawing anyone anywhere, just letting Morecambe rest and get set up.