Morecambe 1 Port Vale 1 Stanners

[Keith]

Early goal at CP! Come on lads, [big] moral boosting win please!

[Aspers]

1-1 half time

[Harry]

Gah, finished work at 4 only to see they'd equalised.

At least I get to see us build on a slightly better foundation on Tuesday against Brentford.

How did we play?

[Crooky MFC]

How did we play?

Shite, better than Tuesday but still shite.

[valiant]

Shite game to be honest.

First half was dire.

Suppose 1 point isnt a bad result in all fairness.

[Martin]

Not a brilliant game. Neither team played particularly well although we were far better than Tuesday - the lads produced some sort of response to Sammy's battle-cry.

Great opening goal after good work on the left by Howe finishing with a cross to Stanley which he finished perfectly. Soft equaliser, not sure who got the final touch but it looked like a headed own goal.

Port Vale crashed one against the bar in the second half but other than that Roche had nothing to do. We created more chances but none of them clear cut.

As for the Referee. He seemed to be having a good game til the second half when he became more and more fussy until he ended up giving a free kick for any contact at all. I think if any player had waved to an opponent the ref would've blown his whistle!!

A point's better than nothing and with Bournemouth and Luton not winning, it keeps that healthy gap.

[james456]

Roche- 5. I feel he should have saved that goal of theirs.
Yates- 6. Not bad, got forward and gave it a go. Put some crosses in.
Bentley- 6. Quiet but fairly solid.
Artell- 5. Distribution was poor. We need McStay back.
Adams- 5. A few mistakes. Seemed to struggle a bit
Wainwright- 4. Wouldnt take his man on. A poor game for him today.
Drummond- 6. Nearly got on the score sheet + not a bad performance.
Stanley- 7. Well taken goal, put himself about.
McLachlan- 6. Quiet but had a good shot, passing wasnt bad today.
Twiss- 5. Not happening for him yet but he didnt have much to do.
Howe- 8. Good performance. Worked very hard, held the ball up well and created several chances.

O'Carroll - Not given enough time (again).



Because of the wind, we played it on the ground a bit more and therefore played a bit better then Tuesday bit still not particularly well. Sammy waited until the 80th minute to make a change.

We were playing against a team who repeatedly miskicked the ball and their main chant was "we're not very good"... yet we still couldnt beat them. We need this embargo lifted and (half decent) players brought in. If we go into next season with the current squad, a relegation battle is on the cards.

But being constructive, if we get Duffy, that might enable us to go back to a 4-4-2 and utilise the wings more which will give the front line some much needed service. When Parrish comes back, he could inject a bit of pace into the defence - negating the need to have 3 centre backs grouped closely together which would spread us out and give us more attacking options.

[Howe Magic]

a point is a point at the end of the day and with luton,accy,chester,barnet,and grimsby all losing and bournemouth only drawing plus macc and notts county just above us losing its not a bad day in the end - only rotherham in bottom 11 actually won....

[Christies Child]

An improvement on Tuesday (surely it couldn't have been as bad?) but still below what we need to show to be even a mid table side come the end of the season.

Rene deservedly MoM...but again a lack of quality in the final 1/3rd with the front two playing too far apart.

Almost all our free kicks where a waste of time. It's crying out for some variation or somebody to have a crack on goal. Practice makes perfect so they say!

To introduce a sub especially a striker with 10 minutes to go is in my book a complete waste of time. Takes at least 5 to warm up to the pace of the game.

Still in the context of other results you could say it's a point gained....but for me it's 2 lost!

Tuesday it's Brentford in what will be a cold night for the faithfull.

[Howe Magic]

with all the bad weather due next week ie snow and strong winds...there will be a few games off - possibly our game at rochdale next saturday could be a victim of the arctic conditions which are on the way...

[Aal]

Poor result today after a very bright start.

Port Vale first half were a very poor side and we should have been out of sight.

Fair play to them and their manager, they were a different side in the 2nd half. Their boss was a breath of fresh air with a smile on his face. Even had a playful fight with Lills who encroached in the technical area.

Can't say that I'll be there on Tuesday night or the following week. Cost for one but team don't inspire me at the moment either.

[Star08]

I was much happier with the performance this aft. Howe was an excellent choice as man of the match today - he made up for lack elsewhere on the team with pace that others don't seem to possess and willingness to fight for the ball. I thought Adams played better than for a long time and seemed to be putting in more effort, although he didn't have the same speed challenges as in recent matches. McLachlan also was more precise. Overall I reckon the team worked much better this time, and with more precision in very difficult conditions as the wind was gusting in all directions, affecting the direction of the ball. Pity the ref was such a pain in the second half as it really ruined the flow of the game, and that so many shots of our shots didn't make it into the net, as we should have won this game fair and square. Speaking of shots, it was shocking to see Roche let himself down badly by watching a very saveable shot sail past his shoulder...and without that goal we would have won! Humph! I really hope that the team builds on this now and moves forward with confidence.

[OvertheBar]

Everybody sees it differently.

Conditions were absolutely miserable. From our perishing perch at the back of the North Stand it looked like football was out of the question and I thought it would be anybody's game.

However, we deserved to win. PV were rubbish in the first half and it was frustrating to go in all square at the interval. They improved second half but we had most of the possession and fluffed a few good chances. Some of our passing was good, there was plenty of aggression and everybody put in an energetic shift, Howe in particular was tremendous. Lots of positives if you don't get too fretted about the bits inbetween. We still need target practice, with several 'almost shots' on goal today. All in all, an entertaining afternoon?

Another game where I reckon we are on the road to recovery. After a great win at Chesterfield, a miserable defeat to Accy we are looking to perform and Brentford could be in for quite a surprise on Tuesday...I mean we are liable to sting the Bees good style.

[steve mfc]

It was a vast improvement on Tuesday night in every respect, personally i thought we were much the better team and deserved to win but it seems i have said that several times this season.

But we need to start turning possession and pressure into goals, only then will we start picking up maximum points. 62% possession yesterday yet only 4 shots on target.

28 goals in 27 games highlights the problem, only Grimsby have scored less, on the positive side only Rotherham have conceded less in the bottom half of the table.

The ref was a bit whistle happy to say the least, it didn't exactly help the flow of the game.

Credit to the players though for putting in a decent performance in very difficult conditions, i thought Howe deserved his man of the match with a really strong performance.

[P/T Indie]

We played quite well in the first half but not great. The worrying thing is I would say the 1st half performance is about as good as we can expect from the current bunch of players. I think they did give it their all and played to their maximum but they just aren't good enough and don't have anything else.
Second half was very dull and was two poor teams playing poor football.

Have to say stanners and Howe played well and were the only players that looked like creating anything.

[campdave]

We played quite well in the first half but not great. The worrying thing is I would say the 1st half performance is about as good as we can expect from the current bunch of players. I think they did give it their all and played to their maximum but they just aren't good enough and don't have anything else.

Eh? So the first half yesterday was the best they could produce, even when they outplayed Chesterfield the previous week?

[OvertheBar]

I think they did give it their all and played to their maximum but they just aren't good enough and don't have anything else.
Second half was very dull and was two poor teams playing poor football.

It is called Division 2 football.

We don't have a proper striker. Howe is a really good player at this level, proved it at Rochdale last season, but isn't an out and out striker. Nobody else seems to have the striker's instinct. Taylor is closest to a striker but isn't ready. Blinkhorn, Diarmuid and others just aren't strikers and don't seem to contribute enough to warrant inclusion.

Morecambe certainly have to invest to move up the rungs but we aren't able to do that right now. What happens in the summer? Will we have a transfer embargo then if things haven't improved as far as revenue is concerned?

[Heysham_Shrimp]

I think they did give it their all and played to their maximum but they just aren't good enough and don't have anything else.
Second half was very dull and was two poor teams playing poor football.

It is called Division 2 football.

We don't have a proper striker. Howe is a really good player at this level, proved it at Rochdale last season, but isn't an out and out striker. Nobody else seems to have the striker's instinct. Taylor is closest to a striker but isn't ready. Blinkhorn, Diarmuid and others just aren't strikers and don't seem to contribute enough to warrant inclusion.

Morecambe certainly have to invest to move up the rungs but we aren't able to do that right now. What happens in the summer? Will we have a transfer embargo then if things haven't improved as far as revenue is concerned?

The answer to your last paragraph is no because a number of players will be out of contract in May and will be released taking us out of the embargo level.