Morecambe 4 [Stockton x2 O'Sullivan, OG] Solihull 2

[glagys]

Good to see AJ come on

[Phoenix Shrimp 2017]

Good to see AJ come on

Yes AJ good to see! But we are really down to the walking wounded now! Seriously though great win in a rollercoaster of a win. First time in 3rd round in 17 years and only 4th time ever. HAPPY DAYS

[marky]

Thoroughly professional performance in extra time. They did look like a team that has had a COVID layoff but we still did the job very well. Halstead looked far more assured than Turner, btw.

[Keith]

Little wonder Solihull players are knackered, they played 45 minutes more than us!

Crap first half.
Excellent second half.
Professional extra-time.

Deserved to win over the whole game but Solihull look decent and I wouldn't be surprised to see them again next season in League Two.

Now, let's get a decent draw in the Third Round, in our Centenary Season.

[tim-sanchez]

Buzzing to be in the 3rd round draw, cannot wait for that. It's a shame the stadium won't be packed for whoever we get

[Westgate Wanderer]

Awful first half but got to grips with it in the second. Entertaining game for the BBC though all i wanted was the win! Let's see which big ground we can't go to in the next round now.

[Little Shrimp]

Hell of a game, think I would have preferred watching as a neutral

I don't think there's any shame in being taken to extra time by top National League side who beat League Two opposition in the first round. There's not much difference between the levels I think.

First 30 mins we were dreadful and they were excellent, and probably deserved to be further ahead tbh. We got back into it a bit more at the end of the half, then a shape change and a rocket up the backside from DA at HT saw huge improvements. We pressed so much better and the shape change looked to work. Stockton was particularly dominant and CMG had a pretty magical 15 mins, much more like last season.

Daft goal to concede on the break etc, but eventually our organisation and their lack of game time told I think as we went in to ET. After a shocking 30 mins at the start, I think we were probably worth our win. Stockton should have sealed in normal time - he was probably our MOTM. Can't complain about his misses too much though considering he'd scored twice and swung the game in our favour.

Slew was poor and was rightly taken off. O'Sullivan great when he came on and got the goal. We have a competitive side and I think O'Sullivan may be working his way back in after some good form previously from Slew. Phillips had a better game than recently I felt, but still can be so wasteful with the ball at times despite his talent. Great run/assist for Stockton's second though. Halstead back in maybe? He acquitted himself well. I was more disappointed with Turner's reaction to fumbling the shot. We all know how well Cranston hits a ball and I can forgive him for not holding it, but he should have reacted quicker after doing so.

Round three for the first time in a while, very exciting! Just hope CMG and Stockton have the legs for Barrow as they worked so hard!

[redrobo]

Delighted that my thoughts earlier that we might not improve have proved wrong but still made hard work of it and well done to Solihull for matching us for 75 minutes biut x time proved their undoing in terms of fitness.

It's all about getting through to the next round no matter how we did it.....glad it's over phew...

[Slanester]

Deserved the win, despite our $hite start. Wouldn’t want to play them regularly. Next round.....bring on United. COYS.

[Vinny]

Glad Derek made subs early today, that and what ever he said at h/t worked. Great 2nd half, especially Cole's goals, he deserved a hat-trick. Great to be in 3rd-round draw. Bring it on!! Well done DA and the lads!!

Meanwhile, hope we can recoup and regroup ready for Tues night v Barra

[Crazeenick]

I am finding that Derek is much better than Jim (much as I love the guy) at game management.
Great second half today!

[sandgrown]

yes woeful first half, and poor keeping from Turner, as a few on here have said this week, when did Turner last save a shot ?
they worked very hard early on and i thought they might struggle later.

great subs by DA at halftime, it changed the game completely, great team goal for the first and second.

awesome display by Lavelle but Stockton was my MOM with a great all round display of how to lead the line.

it was squeaky bum time for a long while, but DA delivered the goods when it mattered

[black morse]

Very entertaining game even though we were far below the moors in the first half hour. After that fitness and that bit of extra class told. Thought Stockton & CMG were great and Sam was very assertive. Halstead saved us a couple of times and O'sullivan helped the situation when he came on. Mellor had a poor game.

All in all I enjoyed it immensely.

[Caton83]

Two half time subs were tactical, and not for any injuries ( I'm reliably informed )

[Freez]

What a game for the neutral?
Felt a bit sorry for Solihull as they more than played their part, could and possibly should have been 3 up at half time but we got lucky as a deflected header hit the post and Sam cleared it.
We came back at them, got 2-1 up, then they come back at us for 2-2, sub keeper Halstead makes a couple of good stops, Extra time, Sam digs us out of it clearing a woeful Mellor back pass mistake up.
We did think that maybe both teams would play for pens, how wrong were we? Sneaked ahead against the wind thanks to a clever OSullivan header, then got lucky with the OG, though I suspect Cole would have been happy to oblige.
Good tactical changes by DA, putting Cooney RWB, Mellor at 3rd centre back and Hendrie on at LWB, we finally got a grip and got into the game.
We hear nothing wrong with Turner, just tactical as with the above changes, but Halstead did OK.

Half six kick off against Barrow, maybe Alex, AJ and a few others will feature more prominently?

Great game, heart failure in first half, best result.
Next round?
Depends on crowds being allowed back!

And after reading this thread, I must apologise unreservedly for getting the wrong end of the stick during my commentary, while reading texts, posts on here and keeping an eye on the game, I apologise 1000 percent for not saying Keith is correct, on everything. Ever. End of.
Soz.

[Phil Anderer]

Not read the whole thread, but much as I like Halstead, Sam saved him early 2nd half after a howler of a mistake, and Turner did make one good save 1st half. I actually thought after Mark's early 2nd half cock-up coming out of his area that he'd screwed his chances of becoming 1st choice. Still v happy with win.

[Freez]

Mmm, bit harsh on Mark H, he did delay coming for that underhit back pass by Mellor, which was never on and Mellor didn’t look, but at least Mark didn’t try to bring Archer down which gave Sam the chance to clear.
For me , it was more a Mellor error and Mark having no choice but to come for it.

[RedRedWine]

Surely the Sam Lavelle clearance is on Mellor and not Halstead? It was a woefully underhit backpass... AKA a hospital pass. I don't attribute much blame to Mark in that situation.

Interesting if the keeper change was tactical as indicated. That's a massive call if so. You only get 3 subs in 90 minutes in this comp. unlike the league (at the moment), so to use one of those on a keeper when the team is struggling says a lot imo.

A comment earlier about Newcastle possibly not being happy taking Turner off - with all due respect, who cares? There was a lot at stake for the club today. Despite the dominance from Solihull in the first half, the only thing that seperated the sides at HT was the blatant mistake from Turner that lead to the opener. Fortunately it didn't prove costly. Dereks job is to make decisions that are in the best interests of Morecambe FC - not other clubs.

Rhys has a good pedigree and ultimately is a tidy keeper, particularly from crosses. He has lots to offer, but might now need to wait his turn for another opportunity. As Adams previously proved with Mark, he's pretty ruthless when it comes to goalkeeping errors.

[marky No.1]

Phew, watching that was a reet up and downer or vice versa, totally crap and dominated to respectability and bossed the game, amazing and looking forward to the draw.
Big decisions for Tuesday, hope we have some legs left.
Shame we cant watch on 9th January, first time since Jim Harvey days

[Phil Anderer]

I stand corrected; I never did claim to know much about football.

[Keith]

A comment earlier about Newcastle possibly not being happy taking Turner off - with all due respect, who cares?

I'm thinking that managers of Premiership sides might care about any potential loanees that we ask about in future, if their lad is sent back having had his confidence knocked by being substituted. How often has that happened when a keeper is subbed other than through injury?

If it isn't an injury, I doubt Newcastle will be too keen on sending us any more players. If it was an injury, then fair enough.

[Mark S]

BBC commentator suggesting Morecambe must be just prioritising the League.

Mark said "why would they think that?"

Possibly as a way to explain why we're so gutless and crap generally?

go back on iPlayer, 23mins into game.

Keith - This kind of thing is why I dont post on here. I stopped coming on as I would get jumped on for anything I said and it being taken out of context.

Andy, The reason I said " Why would they think that?" was more to do with some jobbing BBC commentator knowing nothing about the club and making some wild assumption. I didnt doubt he said it mate. I was credulous that they would think we would be in such a position financialy that we had the luxury of 'Concentrating on the league'.

Keith, if you are going to quote me, please fully explain the context. Thanks

While I am temporarily on the site, a general observation - The squabbling between a few on a regular basis is frankly embarassing. Even within this thread we have homophobic and threatening overtones. Poor.

[Keith]

Keith - This kind of thing is why I dont post on here. I stopped coming on as I would get jumped on for anything I said and it being taken out of context.

Andy, The reason I said " Why would they think that?" was more to do with some jobbing BBC commentator knowing nothing about the club and making some wild assumption. I didnt doubt he said it mate. I was credulous that they would think we would be in such a position financialy that we had the luxury of 'Concentrating on the league'.

Keith, if you are going to quote me, please fully explain the context. Thanks

While I am temporarily on the site, a general observation - The squabbling between a few on a regular basis is frankly embarassing. Even within this thread we have homophobic and threatening overtones. Poor.

How was it out of context? I was thinking the reason why the BBC commentator may say that is because we looked disinterested and were playing poorly, while Solihull were at that time, all over us and looked like they wanted to win. It wasn't a dig at you, it was a comment about how poor we were at the time the BBC comment was made. I very much doubt the commentator would have repeated that statement at the end of the game after we demonstrated a real desire to win and had turned things around.

If you think this forum is bad, you should see Facebook...

[tim-sanchez]

While I am temporarily on the site, a general observation - The squabbling between a few on a regular basis is frankly embarassing. Even within this thread we have homophobic and threatening overtones. Poor.

Can't say I disagree with this, it's something that makes me consider posting here and one of the reasons I try to stay anonymous. I'm here to discuss football and Morecambe, seeing people getting into very personal attacks is just embarrassing. We can disagree by all means, but it should never get personal.

[BerlinWaller]

I apologise if I offended anyone. I will rise above being baited in future.