Bromley vs Morecambe preview
When Bromley travelled to Morecambe in our final game before Christmas, the Shrimps were joint bottom of League Two.
With four games to go until the end of the season, Morecambe are still bottom and are seven points from safety. Make no mistake, they have to win this game. Defeat at Hayes Lane could even see the Shrimps relegated if 22nd-placed Accrington Stanley win away at Salford City.
Coming into this fixture, Morecambe have lost their last two games, of which last week’s defeat to fellow relegation strugglers Carlisle United was the most damaging.
Derek Adams is a canny manager who has had to work in unenviable circumstances all season. He was barely able to strengthen his squad before the season started, and in the January window, Adams was only given short notice that he could add a few players.
His problems stem from the fact that the club has been up for sale since 2022, and despite a few overtures, a buyer hasn’t been found. Current owner Jason Whittingham is persona non grata, and has gone on record as saying he “cannot wait to get out of the club.” He secured funding to see the club through to the end of the season and claims Morecambe will operate just fine if they go down, but you could forgive fans for not believing him.
Given the circumstances, it is hard to see what else Derek Adams could have done to keep Morecambe in the league. But there is no time for sympathy in this game.
Morecambe have scored the third-least goals in the league and have the least number of shots on target per match. If they are going to win at Hayes Lane on Good Friday, they simply have to find a way to turn that stat around.
If they score, the goals are likely to come from one of Lee Angol (7), Andy Dallas (6), or Gerard Garner (5).
As for Bromley, they head into this game looking to end their season with a positive run of results. Saturday’s 5-0 loss away at Port Vale was a shock to the system, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
There would have been plenty of things Andy would have learnt from that defeat, and you can almost certainly expect to see a response in the game against Morecambe.
The only question mark for me is, with nothing to play for, how many of the wider squad will get a game? Especially as we are entering a period where we will likely be seeing some players in a Bromley shirt for the final time.
Three points are still three points, so I hardly expect this to be a quasi-testimonial atmosphere, but if Andy was to rotate the squad, who would you like to see?
From Bromley with Love XI
Smith
Jenkinson Sowunmi Elerewe Odutayo
Charles Arthurs
Imray Thompson Whitely
Cheek
Please note all match photographs in this article are by Martin Greig - please follow him on Instagram here
All articles are edited by Peter Etherington you can link to him here
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Would like to see Penn get some minutes and McKirdy, Idris both start . Always thought Dallas their striker looked very good in National league.
Morecambe looked bang average today- and that’s being generous. Their goalie made a couple of big saves - and 1-0 is a scoreline that flatters to deceive. They could not cope with Danny Imray’s pace. Would have been nice to get a couple more goals- but a clean sheet and 3 points will do nicely. Harry McK’s cameo was great too- wildcard player with a spark of magic. Cheeky’s penalty was ice cold.