For fans of a certain age, it’s Morecambe who, to paraphrase, play all the right players but not necessarily in the right order, but tonight it was their opponents, Notts County, who played in an unfamiliar and unorthodox line-up, with no obvious right-back. Head coach Luke Williams opted for a fluid system at right-back, with various players filling the role throughout the game.
In other respects, too, it was a changed side from the side that beat Grimsby on Saturday, with no place at all for Richard Brindley, and John Bostock and Connell Rawlinson only on the subs’ bench. Returning to the Notts starting XI were Adam Chicksen, Aden Baldwin and Jim O’Brien. By contrast, Morecambe were unchanged from the side that lost 3-0 at Notts’s neighbours Mansfield on Saturday.
As the game got underway at a Mazuma Stadium bathed in sunshine, Notts had plenty of early possession in the opening but were unable to get close to the Morecambe goal. But, on 15 minutes, a flash of brilliance from Aden Baldwin sent Aaron Nemane down the right. He put a quick low ball into the box, which David McGoldrick hit narrowly to the right of Morecambe’s goal.
Despite Notts’s possession, they were unable to break through a tight Morecambe defence, and in fact the home side gave Notts a scare on 26 minutes, when Michael Mellon curled a ball across the Notts goal which went perilously close to Aiden Stone’s left-hand post.
In the 37th minute, Macaulay Langstaff came close to scoring his first goal of the season, when his header, from a Jodi Jones cross, was tipped over the bar by Moore. But Jones went close himself a few minutes later, receiving a brilliant pass from Jim O’Brien, but scooping his shot well over the goal. Notts were clearly in the ascendancy at this point. This was underlined when, on 44 minutes, McGoldrick again came close, creating space for himself by beating a Morecambe player and taking a great shot, but the ball went narrowly wide of Morecambe goalkeeper Stuart Moore’s left-hand goalpost.
Nevertheless, despite Notts’s dominance (having had 76% possession), the teams went in 0-0 at the break.
Morecambe seemed to start the second-half with a bit more intent, but in fact after 49 minutes it was Notts who came the closest that either side had come to scoring so far. A cross from Aaron Nemane found Jodi Jones, but in a packed goal area he was unable to keep the ball down and smashed the ball against the crossbar.
Some more good football from Notts saw a shot from Jim O’Brien, which was deflected behind for a corner. Shortly afterwards, only a defensive header from Morecambe’s Joel Senior prevented Langstaff from heading home Jodi Jones’s cross. Morecambe were starting to look tired, and it looked at that point as though Notts would be able to turn their superior possession into a goal. A 60th-minute substitution, Sam Austin coming on for Jim O’Brien, seemed to galvanise Notts even more. However, despite the fact that the game was becoming ever more frantic, neither side was able to break the deadlock.
Another Notts substitution saw Tobi Adebayo replace Adam Chicksen, but only a minute later Mellon, for the second time in the game, came close to scoring for Morecambe, his low cross going just wide of Stone’s left-hand post. It was the first time that Morecambe had truly threatened Stone’s goal in the second-half and was a reminder that Notts can still concede goals when least expected.
Five minutes later, as we entered the last 15 minutes of the game, Mellon caused more problems for Notts, picking up a careless back-heel from Aden Baldwin. The Notts man, who had been booked in the first-half, incurred the wrath of head coach Luke Williams for such sloppiness. Williams’s counterpart, Derek Adams, then made a treble substitution, perhaps sensing that Notts were starting to run out of steam.
In the 84th minute, Notts made a double substitution, Bostock and Scott coming on to replace Jones and Nemane. Both of the substituted players had had good games, so it looked like a tactical substitution from the Notts head coach.
As the game neared the end of 90 minutes, it became a bit scrappy, with neither side looking particularly threatening, but Notts had to endure a final scare in the 94th minute, conceding a corner and experiencing real danger as the ball bounced around in their penalty area. As the final whistle blew, and the game remained goalless, it was probably Notts who were the more relieved side.
Whilst an away draw, at a club who last season were two divisions higher than Notts, on paper looks like a good result, the fact that Notts had had by far the greater amount of possession, and had come closest to scoring, did make it feel a little as if it was two points dropped rather than one gained.
At times Notts seemed to suffer from a lack of ideas, and the unusual defensive line-up didn’t look entirely convincing. But there were some positives to come from the game, not least a commanding performance from goalkeeper Aiden Stone, and solid performances too from David McGoldrick and (returning to his former club) Dan Crowley. And Notts shouldn't be too unhappy with a game that gave them their first away point in the EFL since April 2019.
NOTTS XI: Stone - Cameron, Chicksen (Adebayo 70'), Baldwin (YC) - Jones (Bostock 85'), Nemane (Scott 85') - O’Brien (Austin 60'), Palmer, Crowley, McGoldrick;,Langstaff
SUBS NOT USED: Slocombe, Rawlinson, Morias
ATTENDANCE: 3,860
