Morecambe away preview

[Sweden Stag]

After the frustrating and disappointing home defeat against Crewe last Saturday, the Stags are on the road this weekend. The destination is Morecambe, now back in League Two after two seasons in League One following promotion at the end of the 2020-21 season via the playoffs.

In League One, Morecambe played sides like Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich and Derby County. Currently, Morecambe look lower mid-table but have lost just twice at home, while the Stags have scored in every away game this term, averaging more than two goals per game, and last time out, they nullified Stockport County to a 2-0 scoreline. But Morecambe have faltered badly during the last couple of month, just one win in their last ten games. But that was a comprehensive 5-0 rout of Doncaster at their place a few weeks ago. At home, Morecambe have failed to win their last four. Last time out a 2-2 draw at Harrogate.

Last weekend, Morecambe played in the third round of the FA Cup and were kayoed at Swansea to a 2-0 scoreline, while the Stags this season now don’t have the cup distraction.

At Morecambe, the Stags have taken 14 points from their last six visits there, the two latest ones being drawn following four consecutive Stags three-pointers at the Globe Arena. And the Stags have scored in every away game at Morecambe during the entire preview and Morecambe EFL history.

Some games between the Stags and Morecambe have been decided very late on in dramatic fashion. Some facts below.

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, 2017 , when the Stags won 3-1 at Morecambe, all goals coming in the first half.

At Morecambe’s Globe Arena in 2015-16, 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 keeper Barry Roche, 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.

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. No game between the sides have ended in a goal-less draw, but the draws in 2019-20 were the first ones ever between the sides.

In the 2017-18 season, the Shrimps drew on nineteen occasions, while the Stags drew in eighteen. Before the trip to Morecambe in October 2018, the Stags had drawn six consecutive away games, a club record, while Morecambe also drew quite a lot on the road that 2018-19 season.

The sides have so far yet to play a goal-less game. And the first-ever home fixture between the sides in February 2008 was watched by the previewer, seeing an abject Stags first-half display then, almost on par with the recent second half at Harrogate.

Earlier this season, the Stags won to a clear-cut 3-0 scoreline at One Call in the first home fixture of the current campaign.

In League One, the Shrimps relied heavily on Cole Stockton scoring, and his goals were the key to the Shrimps’ 2021-22 League One survival against the odds. But Morecambe have experience of fighting survival. A goal-less draw at Coventry in the final game of the 2017-18 season which kept Morecambe up in the EFL at Barnet’s expense is one example.

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

Previous FL games:

Home games: P 10, W 6, D 1, L 3, GF 17, GA 9
Away games: P 9, W 5, D 2, L 2, GF 13, GA 10

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 4-0 2019-04-19 1-0 2018-10-23 League Two
2019-20 2-2 2019-08-10 1-1 2020-02-08 League Two
2020-21 1-0 2021-02-27 1-1 2020-10-20 League Two
2023-24 3-0 2023-08-12 (at Mansfield) League Two

A very interesting game on Saturday. Come on Mansfield!