Morecambe 1 (Mandeville) Crawley 0 LIVE iFollow Thread

[Little Shrimp]

First game in the flesh I've been able to see in a while. Obviously we weren't great, but did well to grind out the result.

Thought Crawley initially looked like they came here with their minds set on taking a point - they weren't particularly attacking and just took an age over every set piece. We then, however (as we always do), struggled to break down a team more focused and sitting back, failing to keep hold of the ball which generally allowed Crawley a bit more of the game, not that they did much with it. They had some decent players but generally just lacked any cutting edge. Palmer was handy as well as both their wide men and the No7 playing 'in the hole', but as they were generally set up pretty defensively they rarely got men forward/around Palmer enough to trouble us properly.

Fleming and Mandeville made a massive difference when they came on, and I have to give credit to Jim for that substitution. We were lacking in midfield finesse (Kenyon was dreadful, offers nothing in possession) and creativity, so when we brought on Fleming and Mandeville and we were far better. As well as giving us some more ideas and control going forward, I though Fleming also did an excellent job defensively and in the tackle. Mandeville was a lovely bit of gold dust sprinkled on the wing/up front which gave us that extra cutting edge and the winning goal.

Mills was my MOTM. Him and Conlan did excellently to handle their tricky wingers - both put in some great tackles and Mills obviously provided the telling assist, preceded by a lovely dummy in midfield to collect the ball. Though Lavelle and Old did ok against Palmer, but neither completely nullified him and I thought Old was a little susceptible to diving in and getting turned too easily.

Overall, thought this was a stodgy game between a team low on confidence who had conceded nine goals in two games previously and were wanting a draw (Crawley), and a team generally incapable of breaking down a side who aren't particularly willing to bomb forward (Us). Both sides lacked much cutting edge, but our substitutes provided the telling difference in that department when they came on.