What a miserable grey January afternoon for watching a football match; cold, rain, sleet, a heavy pitch. Oh, why not have the football season going through the warmer months of the season. Never mind. Come to the end of January we entertain the Archbishop of Wycombe and his beast on what in all probability will be a very cold evening whilst we sit on our luxurious cold plastic seats. At such times I so often think of those warm summer evenings playing a friendly at the likes of Hitchin; if Carlsberg arranged fixtures for the season etc.
Nathan made three changes from the Chesterfield below par performing side in talisman Hylton replacing Elliot Lee, D’Ath coming into midfield facilitating the move of Rea to centre back replacing the unlucky Famewo and Stacey coming in for Justin. Rather strangely after NJ criticised and hooked off Olly last week at Cheltenham mainly for not getting his tackles in, he moved his back to holding midfield. I suppose the logic being that a possibly fit again D’Ath could chip in with the ugly side of the game that Olly just does not like. The game was only a few minutes old when Hylton who had been looking very lively in that short few minutes, pulled up whilst chasing a ball. It seemed really obvious from the stand that he had pulled his hamstring and had to go off to be replaced by Elliot Lee. In that first half despite having plenty of the ball, we just did not really threaten the Morecambe goal enough. There were decent moves but Elliott Lee’s hard shot that struck the Morecambe centre back when on another day it would have been in the back of the net really typified the first period. Without Hylton on the pitch, we really looked a little ragged up front and Collins was far too often drifting wide to look for space and thus leaving no real threat in the penalty area to receive a cross. We did have other attempts in that half but Shinnie, who earlier brought a good save from Roche, Berry and Rea all struggled to get the ball on target. In the second half, the game became very open and the in-form Morecambe side decided to press forward and take the game to us and at times they were coming forward in waves as we all but surrendered the midfield. Surely this is where we would have been so much better with Rea as holding midfield rather than Olly! I have to say that despite their lowly league position, Morecambe gave us a tough time, worrying stuff and would our winter dip in form continue. I that second period we had two really good saves from Stech strangle from lacking in power deflected shots at goal. With the first effort, he did remarkably well to change direction and get a hand on the ball diverting it around the post for a corner; similar to the second deflection, our keeper did well. Thankfully and to the great relief of the Kenny faithful, we did take the lead following a free kick awarded for a foul against Elliot. Elliot’s brother Olly took the free kick and what a beautifully free kick it was, going right into the danger area for Mullins to smash his header into the back of the net. Then just a couple of minutes late, Mullins almost netted again. Could we hold on to the points and win without the majesty of a hat-full of goals? Well, when Rea made an awful pass gifting the ball to the opposition, it seemed that Ellison breaking away into the area would hit the target but before he could pull the trigger, Rea raced back to make a glorious saving tackle. Both sides continued to push forward and Morecambe had another couple of chances to equalise including a left-foot shot by pantomime villain Ellison that went just wide. For the Hatters, Collins should really have at least got his shot on target when he was put clear on the right of the area but blasted the ball over the crossbar. So, the final whistle arrived much to the relief of the Hatters fans and we scraped home with all three points: absolute relief! Overall impression What a relief it was to get to the final whistle and claim the three points to show some respectability on the last four league games points tally. We may well have to scrap a few wins in this style over the remaining games of the season but they all count. Credit yesterday really has to go to Jim Bentley the Morecambe manager who runs his side of an absolute financial shoestring; I really reckon given the resources at a club such as ours, he would do very well. I hope Morecambe pick up enough points in the remaining fixtures and secure their place in L2 for next season. It was worrying at times in midfield yesterday particularly in that second period when Morecambe really came at us and I reckon Nathan will have to have a serious think about his line up next week at Grimsby. Hopefully, Sheehan will return at CB alongside Mullins enabling Rea to revert to holding midfield and maybe D’Ath will continue at the expense of Olly just to add a bit more fight to the midfield. Anyway, totally delighted as well as relieved to collect the three points; the league table makes very pleasant reading. Oh yes, the referee MR Kettle was very decent and Nathan's use of Cornick as a sub totally spot on to pin those tiring Morecambe legs back into their own half. Onwards to our fishy friends at Grimsby next week! A few thoughts on individual players Stech: he made some very good saves in the second half and in particular to a deflected shot when he almost in slow motion changed direction to push the ball around the post. Without Stech’s contribution, it would have been one point at best. Stacey: got down the wing well but to my mind, not at his best particularly at getting the ball over and into the area. Rea: moved back to CB and had in the main part a good game but as ever, distribution is just not his best part of his game. To his credit, he made a superbly timed tackle in the area taking the ball off Ellison. That was a good recovery as Rea’s terrible misplaced pass had created the opportunity for Ellison to break away. Mullins: I have always felt that Mullins was an ok L2 centre-back but probably no more than that. Yesterday, however, he was very, very Ok in fact his positional play and reading of the game were a touch McNultyish at times. Potts: not at his best and whilst doing well enough defensively he seems to have lost a touch of confidence in going forward. That said, the guy is cast from the same mould as Mick Harford and is a real tough one as seen when he took a very heavy knock in the second half and despite being is serious discomfort, stayed on the pitch without the “magic sponge man’s” attention in order to defend the corner. Olly Lee: with Rea moving to CB, Olly was in a deeper role. A beautifully flighted free kick for Mullins goal but sadly Olly is simply not cut out for the dirty stuff in midfield. He looked a little lost at times as Morecambe swept forward in the second half; please let’s have Rea back there at Grimsby. D’Ath: played well in the first half covering lots of ground rather like a more intelligent Jonathan Smith that actually finds his player with a pass. As expected he tired a lot in the second half and was subbed on 65 minutes for Harry Cornick. Shinnie: probably been one of our better players in this dip in overall team form and against Morecambe his first touch in receiving the ball, turning and making space was a fair cut above L2 level. On the downside, his shooting was so wayward. Overall a good game. Berry: Berry has proved to be so important to us in his “engine room” style of play and he was sadly way below form at Port Vale and Chesterfield. Against Morecambe whilst still not being at his impressive best, he was much nearer his old self. I honestly feel that Berry is the player when if he plays well, then the team play well. Hylton: what a terrible miss Hylton is to the team. We just don’t have another forward with anything remotely near his ability to receive the ball, hold up play and bring others into the game in quite the way Danny does. Poor Danny boy was only on the field for under 10 minutes; get back soon Danny boy! Collins: I get really confused about Collins and what he is both trying to do and what Nathan is asking him to do; are they the same? Why when Hylton went off, did Collins drift so wide so frequently? I appreciate he is looking for space to receive the ball but surely his physical presence was needed more in the penalty area? The Subs: Elliot Lee: on the field for over 80 minutes and played well in terms of his tricky play in getting past people; ok, it did not work every time but overall he did well. I just wish he would occasionally stop being so blasted greedy and pass the ball to a teammate in a better position rather than shooting himself. Cornick: replaced the tiring D’Ath after 65 minutes and as so frequently happens, we look a lot more threatening with “our Arry” on the pitch particularly against tiring legs. A really good substitution by Nathan in stretching the game. Finally a note on Morecambe’s Ellison the panto villain, I would honestly not be unhappy if he was sitting on our bench.
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Hi there, welcome to my site where I chronicle various things about the Hatters, a team I have followed since the mid 60’sArchives
December 2017
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