Morecambe 1:2 Stoke City

[thedoc]

Stoke City report:

https://morecambe.vitalfootball.co.uk/s ... he-points/

[redrobo]

Anybody who thought playing these Academy / Development / Under 21 / Under 23 teams was going to be easy had I suggest have a re think.

Last night (and sorry Doc but I have to disagree) Stoke simply outplayed us with an excellent inter passing game that we found very difficult to master. At times we were shadows chasing the ball and their zonal marking is something that we do not experience that often in League 2.

Of course there were players on our side who certainly showed potential and for me given the service Oswell could be a real threat. The way he took his headed goal from Mandy's corner suggests for me a bright future with us providing he gets the crosses from the wings which at Stockport lead to his 25 goal a season tally.

Jagne shows a lot of potential and on the night showed a wee bit more team ethic than Carlos who certainly has the makings of a good player but needs more game time and coaching to fulfil his potential. Given time I can see both becoming regular first team squad players. However what is of concern is that they may be head hunted by other larger clubs from both the Premiership and Championship who have the resources to take a gamble and sign them up for their clubs development squads especially as this cup involves clubs at a higher level plus the number of scouts present at such games.

As for the game the result in my opinion reflected the total contrasts in style and although we brought on both AJ and Rhys in the 80th minute the damage had been done and we had little time to alter the outcome.

And so we move on to a meaningless game v Sunderland but at least it will provide additional game time for squad members not involved on match day. Just hope that we don't encounter any more injuries on the night.

[thedoc]

sorry Doc but I have to disagree

No problem at all about that: I wasn't there so I have no idea. Excellent analysis of the game and our younger players. I put the drivel I wrote on Vital because nobody else will. I relied - in the absence of the promised live commentary on Radio Lankyshite's DAB channel (can't find it on any of my DAB sets...) on Stoke City's Twitter account and Gary Hunt's summary of what he had seen at the end of both halves. If you - or anybody else reading this stuff on Vital wants to do the reports: feel free. I've done it for years because nobody else will: the Vital Morecambe site only exists at all because I personally fought for its continuance this season. Nobody else seems to care less. Without it, though, the Shrimps' coverage in the media would be even more minuscule than it already is.