Morecambe 1 Lincoln 1 Bentley F/T

[BLS BOY]

It is a positive to the extent we didn't lose the game, Neil's point is valid to the extent we do look to be struggling in terms of strength in depth.

Chester are not exactly the softest team in the division and the lads will need to be physically "up for it" if they are to break through, arguably one of the poorest teams in the league.

[Christies Child]

2 points dropped without doubt.

Can't understand this habit of trying to defend a 1 goal lead as we did for the last 30 minutes. We gave them too much room and as a result they took control of the game.

Possibly if Stanners and Fraser had stayed on we could have weathered the storm but so bloody frustrating in defending a 1-0 lead.

.

Neil - you kind of answer your own point.

I didn't see any deliberate 'trying to defend' - we got our goal after 18 minutes and then spent nearly all the rest of the game looking for a second. We bossed them all over the park for long periods.

It was only when we lost the two workers in midfield and lost our shape a bit that they got any really useful possession. No 'trying to defend' there - it was a case of having to.

They're not a bad side, you know, and have some very good players. Hardly likely that we are going to keep them in their own half all night. (But we did for most of the game).

Yes, disappointing on the night that we didn't get the three points we deserved - but let's just take a step back for a minute.

We are saying that we - 'Morecambe' - are disappointed that we didn't get three points against Lincoln City - that's Football League side, Lincoln City, the real one.

Being "disappointed" that we didn't 'kill off' Lincoln, against whom we looked comfortably the better side (ditto Port Vale) is - to me - a massive, massive 'positive'.

It's all about opinions isn't it?

At times in a lot matches we look to be an excellent side; but as Sammy has rightly said on numerous occassions it's the lack of consistancy that is causing us problems of our own making.

It was interesting to hear some of the comments about the game coming out of the ground and whilst I admit that we did look for that second goal, the comments centred mostly around going defensive for the last quarter. I'm not the only one who made reference about the 10 men defending the corner or the fact that we don't get enough men forward when we do counter attack.

As I said it's all about opinions....and long may it continue.

Let's hope that the league agree that we've done everything we've been asked to rid ourselves of the embargo, because this mounting injury crisis will eventually take its toll.

[Abbo]

I couldnt understand why Matty wasnt taken off lastnight, the guy was shattered and didnt pose any threat to there defence for the last 30 mins, very strange when there was 2 forwards sat on the bench.

[james456]

2 points dropped without doubt.

Can't understand this habit of trying to defend a 1 goal lead as we did for the last 30 minutes. We gave them too much room and as a result they took control of the game.

Possibly if Stanners and Fraser had stayed on we could have weathered the storm but so bloody frustrating in defending a 1-0 lead.

.

Neil - you kind of answer your own point.

I didn't see any deliberate 'trying to defend' - we got our goal after 18 minutes and then spent nearly all the rest of the game looking for a second. We bossed them all over the park for long periods.

It was only when we lost the two workers in midfield and lost our shape a bit that they got any really useful possession. No 'trying to defend' there - it was a case of having to.

They're not a bad side, you know, and have some very good players. Hardly likely that we are going to keep them in their own half all night. (But we did for most of the game).

Yes, disappointing on the night that we didn't get the three points we deserved - but let's just take a step back for a minute.

We are saying that we - 'Morecambe' - are disappointed that we didn't get three points against Lincoln City - that's Football League side, Lincoln City, the real one.

Being "disappointed" that we didn't 'kill off' Lincoln, against whom we looked comfortably the better side (ditto Port Vale) is - to me - a massive, massive 'positive'.

I agree that we went at them for most of the game but towards the end, we seemed to sit too far back and invited them onto us. I don't think we were trying to shut up shop completely but we definitely played a more negative game and seemed unwilling to push out and close down.

And taking a step back to appreciate how lucky we are to be here is all well and good but christ, now that we've got here and are living the dream, we bloody well want to stay here and do need to be picking up 3 points in games like this.

[campdave]

now that we've got here and are living the dream, we bloody well want to stay here and do need to be picking up 3 points in games like this.

We're 18 points off relegation. At what stage can we stop looking over our shoulder?

[shrimper]

It is a positive to the extent we didn't lose the game, Neil's point is valid to the extent we do look to be struggling in terms of strength in depth.

And I'd agree. I was merely addressing the comments that implied that us 'sitting back' or 'trying to defend' was a deliberate ploy.

I didn't see us take a backward step until we started getting the midfield injuries and our players visibly tired. All I'm saying is I don't think it was a 'tactic' to defend what we had, it was just forced on us by the injuries, tiredness (having run them ragged for long periods) and them having some good players who gave it their all towards the end.

[Christies Child]

now that we've got here and are living the dream, we bloody well want to stay here and do need to be picking up 3 points in games like this.

We're 18 points off relegation. At what stage can we stop looking over our shoulder?

Never....if you do it's a sure fire way to complacency.

Fortunately both Sammy and Mark are aware that a bad run in form could prove costly and are constantly warning us and no doubt the players of that fact.

On a different subject, it was good to see Rene in the stand last night. Some squad players who couldn't get on the bench from time to time have been known to go AWOL.

Well done Rene!

[james456]

now that we've got here and are living the dream, we bloody well want to stay here and do need to be picking up 3 points in games like this.

We're 18 points off relegation. At what stage can we stop looking over our shoulder?

We need to go out of this season and into the next with a decent side who gel well and are cabable of winning games like this - we did badly at the end of last season and our poor form carried through to the start of this season which has cost us. We don't want to shut down now, having more or less achieved safety and make the wrong start to next season which will arguably be our hardest in recent history.

[ezz]

Have we lost to Chester since coming up?

[Sammy h]

People are too scared to be negative on this forum sometimes, they only come out with the positives, i think it's about time we can cut all this crap about little Morecambe disapointed about getting a draw at Lincoln City and Port vale etc, don't be afraid to be a little critical!
We have earnt our right to be in this league, so stop making it out as if we shouldn't be taking points of these so called bigger teams.

Yes, we played brilliant last night, but we did fall apart after Stanners and Fraser went off, in reality i think we will struggle over the next month without them.

[heysham_mfc]

before last nights game I would have taken a point against Lincoln but I felt we should have had the game wrapped up long before Lincoln scored

[Abbo]

As someone has said, its nothing to do with this stuff like Morecambe are a little club fighting above there weight, what happened lastnight has happened far to much this season, we score first cant go on and finish teams off, sit back and try to defend and concede, how many points have we dropped by using these tactics, as i said in an earlier post i couldnt understand why Blinkhorn played the full 90 mins as he gave us nothing up front for the last 30 mins

[slackAlice]

Have we lost to Chester since coming up?

No ..played 4 won 4 [incl one on penalty's in JPT] beat them 5-3 last season at CP on Boxing day in front of 3419

[shrimper]

People are too scared to be negative on this forum sometimes, they only come out with the positives, i think it's about time we can cut all this crap about little Morecambe disapointed about getting a draw at Lincoln City and Port vale etc, don't be afraid to be a little critical!
We have earnt our right to be in this league, so stop making it out as if we shouldn't be taking points of these so called bigger teams.

Yes, we played brilliant last night, but we did fall apart after Stanners and Fraser went off, in reality i think we will struggle over the next month without them.

Last sentence I agree with. But I do think THAT was the reason (coupled with tiredness, Drummy and Twissy looked knackered) that we fell away.

Up to that point we were still dominating and Wainwright was still causing problems. Had they not both gone off I think we may well have got the second goal.

Sam - I don't think anyone's afraid to be critical on here! But it's all opinions and if I or anyone else has a different view then we can give it here. That will often mean commenting on someone else's opinion - we're not saying you don't have the right to yours, just that we don't agree.

I look at our team and can't honestly say that our players are obviously better, one-for-one, than those of Lincoln or Port Vale. In fact I think Lincoln in particular have better players than us in a lot of positions. Brentford c ertainly do and we beat them - killed them off nicely.

So I think that even being able to come away thinking we 'should' have beaten these teams is a compliment to how our players have played for more than matching them. The fact we haven't beaten them IN MY OPINION is because we haven't got the players capable of consistently finishing teams off. The 'cutting edge' that Sammy talks about.

It's not about very good players not playing to their potential, which I would be more critical of. It's about decent - but not brilliant - players giving their best efforts but not quite being able to do what we all would like to see.

I agree it will be tough these next few weeks with our main 'engine room' missing and, again, if we get anything from games away at Grimsby, Rochdale and Aldershot and home to Wycombe, we'll be doing very well.

I still think we can and should beat Chester, though.

[Posh]

before last nights game I would have taken a point against Lincoln but I felt we should have had the game wrapped up long before Lincoln scored

Sammy's done incredibly well to turn the side round over the last month with some really good performance, with one of them being Lincoln. Yet his love affair with Betty Blinkhorn bemuses me. He was very poor on Tuesday and got progressively worse with none of the energy, imagination or timing needed to prosper at this level. Rene would have had a field day; or I'm certain Aaron Taylor's poacher instincts would have bagged something from Wainers crosses; and then of course Wayne Curtis comes on and hits a post within minutes.

[marky]

It looks like 4-4-2 is our only option now, with Twiss on the left, Wainwright on the right and Drummond and Hunter in the middle. How does our embargo impact on reserve players who don't currently have a squad number? Would they be effectively new player registrations and therefore out of the question?

[shrimper]

Unless he keeps the back five as it is and just swaps Twissy and Gary for Fraser and Stanners, with Wayne and O'Carroll/Blinks/Aaron up front?

[marky]

Could Twiss play as a Central midfielder?

[BLS BOY]

Could Twiss play as a Central midfielder?

Not really marky, he seems to be becoming a bit more of a threat up front recently. The goal against Brentford was one of the best peices of skill and touch ive seen from him from a long time, so to drop him back alongside Drummond and /or Hunter, i think will take away that potent force he has when up front.

Personally i'd go with Twiss and Taylor this week, if Sir Rene of Howe is still injured.

[shrimper]

Drummy and Gary a bit deeper and Twissy just behind the front two?

[BLS BOY]

Drummy and Gary a bit deeper and Twissy just behind the front two?

mmm...not a bad idea, but which 2 go up front!!?

[shrimper]

Personally I'd go with Wayne and O'Carroll.
But you could make a case for Aaron with Wainer getting in so many crosses recently. I don't think Matty's done enough to keep his place above the others but may get the nod because of his workrate.

[halfwayliner]

Who ever is up front will need to control the ball and work hard to stop it coming straight back at us.I would go with Wayne and Dermot with Twissy just behind them.

[james456]

Who ever is up front will need to control the ball and work hard to stop it coming straight back at us.I would go with Wayne and Dermot with Twissy just behind them.

Sounds good. Im assuming this is in a 5-3-2 formation with Twiss as the centralmost midfielder pushing forward in an attacking role. I would go for that.

[Christies Child]

Blinks will play......Taylor will miss out AGAIN!