Morecambe

See previous Views re:

– Being s***e at finishing

– Not being able to beat s***e teams at home

– A miserable afternoon out at the Kassam

I don’t need to say anything more really but I’m going to anyway.

We got a goal at last, which might surprise some. They all count so best not to get picky or look into that old gift horse’s mouth, but it wasn’t really a proper goal was it? Thanks to Barry Roche for manoeuvring the ball into his own net.

There are all sorts of reasons why we didn’t win this game but I’ll place most of the blame at the feet of two of our yellowed number – Tommy Craddock & James Constable.

Tommy Craddock – Yes plenty were guilty of not being able to hit a cow’s arse with a banjo but the most woeful effort was TC’s when he almost cleared the East stand. Natural finisher, whatever gave me that idea? A second goal would have killed that game off, no question. However, I will say that the cheers that came from my right in the SSU when TC was taken off were way out of order. Other than that miss he made a couple of other mistakes but he produced some very good stuff. I saw crisp passing, a vision lacking in many of his team mates and better movement up front than anyone else was providing. But I’m generally pro- Tommy. No doubt the antis will have seen something entirely different.

James Constable – How long has he been playing this game? How many times has he been caught offside? I wouldn’t have thought there are many players past or present who have been flagged as often as Beano. He never seems to look up and work out what’s what. It was a piece of p**s for the Shrimp back line to step up and catch him beyond the last man in the last minute. This was unforgiveable as far as I’m concerned. Will he never learn? He should take a look at Man of the Match, Alfie who I spotted looking along the line and nipping on side as the occasion demanded. From the free kick a corner was conceded and from the corner a goal was conceded in traditional style. Other than this and a corner in the first half, Morecambe had not looked remotely like scoring.

We bottled it last season and we’ve bottled it again. Callers to Radio Oxford seem to think the problem is a lack of passion (or compassion as one would have it!). I don’t think that’s it. Passion alone isn’t going solve our inability to ….. well you know what.

It was a Bank Holiday. We should have come into this game at least in the top seven. The gate should have been three or four thousand higher than it was. Something needs to be done now to ensure we don’t bottle it again next season.