Morecambe 1 (Leigh) Cheltenham 3

[Keith]

HUGE deflection.

[ianmcm]

Given the other scores so far, it's not a total disaster but this is a big second half coming up.

[Redalert1970]

Fleetwood and Gillingham both winning so results aren't good

[Keith]

Cheltenham are playing like a Derek Adams team, letting us have the ball in our own half, but do nothing with it, then hit us on the break.

We need a big second half.

[ianmcm]

Correction. Yes. This is potentially disastrous unless it can be fixed!

[Redalert1970]

2 nil game over

Fat lady starting to sing

[Keith]

Awful defending.

League Two here we come

[Keith]

Now then!

[Keith]

ANOTHER CLEAR PENALTY NOT GIVEN!

Crowd awake now. How we didn't score a couple of minutes before we did???

[Redalert1970]

Conceding far too many goals

That's 70 now in 37 games

[Bristol Shrimp]

As it stands Gillingham over take us, I'm not confident for Shrewsbury, think that this could be it for league one. Hopefully if we do go down, we're competitive in league 2 next season.

[dannymorc1]

Game over! We are just not good enough. We've huffed and puffed and been outplayed. Their tactics mirrored the way we wanted to play, but once they got the lead we had to attack. But we didn't have enough to offer. Our first change of position in the league for weeks, and it had to be down!
Something of a miracle needed now.
Oh, and more questionable refereeing decisions, but it seems to be the norm now.
Trying to keep the faith.
COME ON YOU MORECAMBE REDS.

[Redalert1970]

Crazy thing is we have lost 19 games and conceded 70 goals but are still only 1 point from safety

[ianmcm]

That was pretty ominous.

[ianmcm]

Given that after Shrewsbury it's Wigan away, I can't see anything massively improving between now and this time next week. But you never know!

[BerlinWaller]

Flat on and off the pitch today, had the wiff of the R word about it. Adam Phillips showed why he is a very good L2 player after such a good performance on Tuesday. The Defence looked ropey and we shipped 3 poor goals again. Alfie was poor and for all his effort, Connelly didnt produce a final product. We looked like Tuesday had drained us.

A bit early to call it a day yet but my word we need to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

[black morse]

Flat on and off the pitch today, had the wiff of the R word about it. Adam Phillips showed why he is a very good L2 player after such a good performance on Tuesday. The Defence looked ropey and we shipped 3 poor goals again. Alfie was poor and for all his effort, Connelly didnt produce a final product. We looked like Tuesday had drained us.

A bit early to call it a day yet but my word we need to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

Mmmm!

[P/T Indie]

Is connelly going to be another one of these that can't produce a final ball

No idea what is going on with our set pieces we can never clear the first man.

With Gillingham overtaking us and our run in I can't see us getting out of it.

[Andy D]

Connolly has pace to burn and needs to play on the shoulder of the last defender, but he’s being asked to track back.

rather Fane play alongside Toums with Philips given a bit of freedom.

[Keith]

Phillips was one of the best players in the first half, but without any final product. His free-kicks have been poor all season, today was a continuation of that. How many times does he fail to clear the wall? His two wild thrashes at the ball in the second half were dreadful. At half-time, Gibson was my MotM.

Second half, we gave away a sloppy goal right at the start, which really put us under pressure. Yet, from there, we actually began to look like we wanted to score a goal, something we never looked likely to do in the first. Connolly was busy and Cole's determination led to the goal. The support really got going then too. But two penalty appeals both went against us. I thought the first was clearer of the two, but other people thought the second. Regardless, one or the other, if not both. But this was another referee who was determined not to give us anything.

Neither of them was as clear as Tuesday's appalling decision.

Cheltenham were allowed to foul and time waste whenever they wanted. As a result, whenever we started to build any momentum, the ref allowed them to time waste. Even their manager got in on the act, heading the ball away. At one of their corners, their player clearly kicked the ball away, then both the players turned and wandered off. Their keeper took an age to take every kick. At one point, the ref jogged over to him and had a word, then ran to the halfway line, blew his whistle, then we all waited for another thirty seconds before the keeper decided to kick the ball. I'm guessing 'the word' that he had was, "take as much time as you want, I'm not going to book you for wasting it".

All in all, a poor game. Defeat in the first of two "must win games". Looking at the fixtures, I'm struggling to see where we're going to pick up points. And now, we have to catch two teams, not just one. Fortunately, other sides appear determined not to capitalise, but we're looking like a relegation destined side.

[Redalert1970]

April could be interesting if we are still in touch

18th Gillingham v Fleetwood

23rd Fleetwood v Wimbledon

[Keith]

April could be interesting if we are still in touch

18th Gillingham v Fleetwood

23rd Fleetwood v Wimbledon

And that's what will see us going down. The other teams around us are guaranteed to pick up points somewhere simply by playing each other.

[fulwoodshrimp]

I feel relegation is likely unless we can win a couple of winnable games such as Burton and Shrewsbury and can win a couple of the games we are not expected to win- perhaps Charlton and Wigan!!! After all we nearly won at Bolton unexpectedly. However, week by week we have not been able to win many matches and the likelihood is this trend continues supported by the biased refereeing that has been a feature of the season.

[Redalert1970]

Charlton and Shrewsbury are not out of trouble yet either

Charlton have only taken 1 point from last 6 games and host Gillingham on Tuesday night

[redrobo]

Just felt as though DA's tactics had been used by Cheltenham and they included time wasting to frustrate both the team and the fans.

Didn't appear to be any passion in our game after their first goal and the third was the killer.

Not looking too good at the moment but football is a cruel game and recent blatant penalties have not gone our way.

Interestingly each appeal involved Connolly.....maybe he has gained a 'diving' reputation in the minds of referees that is working against him....