Tuesday night will see Notts County compete in their third league game of the season, as they travel to the Mazuma Stadium to play recently relegated Morecambe. The Shrimps are level on points with Notts, and only one goal separates the two sides – in Morecambe’s favour.
Both are going into this game with the same form, one win and two losses from their first three competitive matches, however, Notts have the slightly better form with them winning their most recent game against Grimsby, whereas Morecambe lost 3-0 to Notts County’s rivals – Mansfield Town.
It's fair to say both sides will need to do much better defensively if they want to have a chance of winning this game, as they were both punished by defensive errors which led to conceding goals on Saturday. For Morecambe, poor touches by Donald Love and Liam Gibson in dangerous areas led to big chances for the home side, with the former’s poor touch leading to the Stags’ second goal of the afternoon. Mansfield’s third and final goal was another Morecambe error, as Liam Gibson once again gifted possession to the home side as his mistimed header went backwards and into the path of Rhys Oates, who ran into the box and won a penalty, after being tripped by the aforementioned Shrimps defender.
For Notts, both goals that they conceded against Grimsby were of their own doing, with a lack of awareness, poor decision making and lapses in concentration being the culprits. An Aaron Nemane misplaced pass to Connell Rawlinson meant that Danny Rose could run through on goal, and Richard Brindley deciding to step off him and give him space resulted in the striker calmly placing the ball at the near post. For the second goal, four Notts defenders were in front of three Grimsby forwards on the edge of the box, oblivious of their positioning, they pushed forward and towards the ball. One simple dink over all four defenders left Harry Clifton in acres of space in the box, and from roughly ten yards out, he made no mistake, giving Grimsby the lead for the second time.
If Morecambe are to do well this season, they will need to replace prolific striker Cole Stockton, who left for Burton Albion in the summer. The striker, who joined Morecambe from Tranmere Rovers, scored 70 goals, in all competitions, in four seasons for the club, the Shrimps will need to find firepower from elsewhere. Most notably, they have signed striker Michael Mellon on loan from Burnley, who has really impressed in the youth competitions for the Lancashire side, scoring 18 goals in 27 games in the u18 Premier League and the Premier League 2 in the 20/21 and 21/22 seasons. The 19-year-old has played the most minutes out of any forward at the club, and has already scored, in a Carabao Cup loss to Rotherham United.
Another striker that will be hoping to impress on Tuesday night is Notts County’s Macaulay Langstaff – who has gone without a goal in the first two games of the season. This might not sound like a lot for most strikers, but for Langstaff, who got 42 league goals last season, with his longest goal drought just three games, his natural hunger and desire to get on the scoresheet will be clear. The striker will be more eager than ever to score against Morecambe.
