McKenna: We Expect to Face a Fully Motivated Morecambe Team Thursday, 24th Feb 2022 18:16 Town make their first ever league trip to under-new-management Morecambe on Saturday aiming to set a new clean sheets record but more importantly out to claim three points which will move them closer to the play-off places. The Blues, who will have 1,270 fans backing them at the Mazuma Stadium, remain ninth, four points off the play-offs following Tuesday’s frustrating 0-0 home draw with Cheltenham with Town having 12 games left to play with some of the sides around them having matches in hand. Since manager Kieran McKenna took charge in mid-December, the Blues have a 100 per cent record against sides in and around the relegation zone - Morecambe are currently fourth-bottom - having beaten Gillingham home and away, 4-0 and 1-0, Doncaster 1-0 in South Yorkshire and AFC Wimbledon 2-0 at Plough Lane. However, McKenna says league position hasn’t so far been a good indicator of how tough Town’s matches prove to be. “I think we’ve had to work for every game, to be honest,” he said. “In my experience of this league so far, the difficulty of the game on any given week isn’t entirely linked to the league position of the opposition. “You can see that in the games every weekend, it seems teams are dropping points against different teams irrespective of the league position. “I watched Morecambe against Rotherham on Tuesday [which ended 2-0 to the league leaders] and Rotherham are flying, a super team, a well-established style of play and a very good manager. “Morecambe were on a day when the manager [Stephen Robinson] had just left [for St Mirren] and an interim manager [goalkeeper-coach Barry Roche] was taking the game. “But you watch the game and both teams had maybe 19 shots to 17. Both teams had big chances, Morecambe had more corners and final-third entries, had more shots on target and had more of the game. “Rotherham obviously got the early goal and scored two high-quality goals, but Morecambe could have scored two, three, maybe even four goals themselves, to be honest. “So, I think it reflects on it, but I see it every week. I think each game brings a challenge, such contrasting styles, the conditions can be so challenging from one week to the next, and I think the league position is a small part of it.  “I think in general each team has their threats, each team has to be respected for their threats and so far we’ve managed to try to completely ignore the form guide or league position of each team and just respect them for the threats that they bring. “It’s worked for us pretty well so far, but it’s a big mental challenge to keep doing that every week, and that’s what we have to try and educate the players on and try and make sure we keep showing.” After Robinson’s departure on Tuesday, the Shrimps reappointed Derek Adams on Thursday, the Scot having only left last June after taking them into League One for the first time via the play-offs by defeating Newport County 1-0 at Wembley. Adams subsequently joined Bradford, who sacked him earlier this month. John McMahon has rejoined him at the Mazuma Stadium as his assistant.  In a strange quirk, Robinson’s first game as Morecambe boss was against Town on the opening day of the season and now his successor’s inaugural match of his second spell is also against the Blues. It’s also the second time in a few weeks that Town have come up an incoming new boss with Neil Harris having only taken over at Gillingham a few days before facing the Blues, although the ex-Millwall boss had already taken charge of one game, a 1-0 home success against Crewe, before visiting Portman Road for his side’s 1-0 defeat. “We had this situation a couple of weeks ago with Gillingham as well,” McKenna recalled. “We know that that can often change the dynamic and the energy in a team. “Derek has been there before and obviously did a very good job with them last year, so I don’t think it will take him too long to get a good assessment of the squad and start to imprint the things that he wants to imprint. “We expect to face a fully motivated Morecambe team, but I think that would have been the case anyway. “As I say, I watched their game against Rotherham on Tuesday night and I thought they gave a really good performance, really high energy, really went toe-to-toe with Rotherham and I think they had 17 shots in the game and were good value for one or two goals. “I think irrespective of who the manager is that performance on Tuesday night showed that the players are fighting, they’re together and working hard and doing everything they can to get points out of the games.” Morecambe’s biggest threat is undoubtedly 21-goal top scorer Cole Stockton, who netted twice in that opening day fixture. “A really effective, powerful striker,” McKenna said. “Obviously I’ve seen lots of him this week watching the games back. He’s a big player for them, a good focal point, good all-round game in terms of holding the ball up, but also running behind and flicking things on. “But obviously primarily a very good goalscorer, so someone we’re going to have to be mindful of and be ready for on Saturday.”
Morecambe is one of the Blues’ longest journeys of the season and McKenna says he doesn’t recall having had to make a longer one by bus for a game. “It’s a long trip and it’ll be my longest, I think,” he said. “I was having a chat with [assistant manager] Martyn [Pert] and trying to discuss what was the longest coach journey we’ve had for a match and this is going to be my longest so far. The players have more experiences of it in general. “For me, it brings a challenge and we have to change the schedule a little bit in terms of training times and meal times to make sure that we get on the road as early as possible and give ourselves the best chance in terms of the traffic to get up there. “We’ll adapt as well as we can in terms of nutrition and thankfully we’ve got a really good chef, Paul [Burroughs], here who travels with us and looks after the team as well as he can, so we’ve adjusted a few things for tomorrow in terms of meal times to make sure we get the best possible nutrition to help us for the game. “We look after every little detail that we can, but in reality, we have probably six hours minimum on a coach and we have to manage that as well as we can. “But we’re not the only ones in that position and I presume Morecambe have some very long journeys on a weekly basis as well, so we’re not unique in that geographical factor in that Ipswich is quite a journey for a lot of other teams in the league, and we have to control what we can control and make the best out of that situation.” Town keeper Christian Walton and the Blues backline will be looking to record a sixth successive clean sheet, which would be a new club record. Five clean sheets in the last five games equalled a league record previously achieved in August and September 2019, in March and April 2013 and during the same period in 1997. The Blues preventing Morecambe from finding the net for the first 14 minutes on Saturday would be a new club record of 548 minutes without conceding a goal. “I think that reflects on a lot of different aspects of our game,” McKenna said when asked about the clean sheet record. “It reflects well on the mentality in the group to have those clean sheets. “It’s a tough division to get clean sheets in. Every game, you face different challenges, we face some teams who have good possession and good penetration with their passing and other teams who are going to try and load your box and threaten you with a set play for large chunks of the game. “So, to have a good clean sheet record, and not just in the recent run but across 11 games, reflects well on the mindset of the group and gives us a good chance to win games. “Also, I’d certainly rather have a 5-4 than a 0-0, so we want to do whatever it takes to win the game, but we know keeping clean sheets gives us a better chance to go and win the game.” Given the defensive record, McKenna seems certain to stick with Walton in goal behind the now familiar back three of Janoi Donacien, Luke Woolfenden and George Edmundson with the trio now having started the last 12 matches. Wes Burns will be at right wing-back with Dominic Thompson perhaps making way for Kane Vincent-Young on the left, the Brentford loanee having tired in the second half against Cheltenham. In central midfield, with Lee Evans out for a few weeks with a knee injury, McKenna will have to decide whether to continue with Tom Carroll, who was impressive against the Robins before also tiring, or to bring back Tyreeq Bakinson. Skipper Sam Morsy will be in the other central midfield role. McKenna will again shuffle his front three with one or both of Macauley Bonne and James Norwood perhaps in line for a recall having been left out of the last two starting line-ups. Sone Aluko may also come back in having been an unused sub against Cheltenham. Returning Morecambe boss Adams, 46, says his side need to go out and win the first of 13 games in which he has the task of keeping the Shrimps in League One. “[I’m] looking forward to it,” he told his club’s official website. “We’ve got Ipswich on Saturday which is the first game, it’s a game that we’re going to have to go out and win to give us that opportunity of catching the teams above us, we know that. “Over the years, even last season, we had a really good home record and this season we’ve got the supporters back in the stadium. “We’ve all seen how much that can affect this football club, we’ve seen the uptake in season tickets, we’ve seen the atmosphere that’s been here and really looking forward to having them here and seeing them on Saturday.” He added: “We’ve got to try and play on the front foot and really get up and against them, and obviously get the three points.” Morecambe are without a win in their last six having alternated between defeats and draws. At home this season they have won five, drawn six and lost six. The Shrimps have conceded 63 goals in their 33 games this season with only Doncaster having shipped more. However, with Rovers having played two more matches, Morecambe’s average of 1.91 goals conceded per match is the worst in the division. While Saturday’s match is Town’s first league visit to Morecambe, the Blues previously made the long trip to the North-West for for an FA Cup third round tie at the Shrimps’ old ground Christie Park in January 2001, when Town, then fourth in the Premier League, beat the non-league Shrimps 3-0. The teams also met in the FA Cup at the same stage at Portman Road two years later with Town winning 4-0. At Portman Road on the opening day of this season, debutant sub Macauley Bonne netted an injury-time equaliser as the sides drew 2-2 in an entertaining encounter. Cole Stockton put the visitors ahead on 22 before Scott Fraser levelled for the Blues in the 61st minute. Stockton was gifted a second on 72 before Bonne spared Town’s blushes right at the death. The Morecambe squad includes three former Blues. Midfielder Toumani Diagouraga was with Town on loan in the second half of 2016/17, making 10 starts and two sub appearances. Another midfielder Shane McLoughlin moved to the Shrimps last summer from AFC Wimbledon. The Irishman joined the academy at 16 and made one senior start and one sub appearance for the Blues. Winger Dylan Connolly joined the Shrimps in January from Northampton. The Dubliner signed for the Blues in January 2015 from hometown club Shelbourne but moved on in December of the same year without making a senior appearance, although having been on the first-team bench on a number of occasions. Saturday’s referee is Matt Donohue from Manchester, who has shown 102 yellow cards and seven red in 25 games so far this season. Donohue will be taking charge of his first Town match, but in his last Morecambe match, the 2-0 home defeat to Forest Green Rovers in October 2019, he sent off Shrimps striker Lewis Alessandra in the final minute. Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Donacien, Edmundson, Woolfenden, Burgess, Burns, Vincent-Young, Thompson, Penney, Morsy, El Mizouni, Carroll, Bakinson, Celina, Aluko, Chaplin, Bonne, Norwood, Pigott, Jackson.
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