An enjoyable result from Morecambe yesterday. The Globe arena is a nice new ground, a decent sized main stand, and for us away fans the covered terrace behind the goal was respectable too, steep enough steps that you could see above the person in front, and hefty crush barriers to lean on too. The ground seems to be in acres of space, so I have no idea why they built a wall only 2 yards from the back of the concourse, which made queuing for food and drinks and consuming them as well a bit crowded. Nor do I know why they decided to make the clubhouse bar home fans only, as I'm sure they could do with the extra income from the travelling away fans.
At least at the Globe they have kept the fast food catering to a decent standard, and I was not disappointed by the LHP (Lancashire Hot Pot) with mushy peas. I was dismayed to only find about their award winning match day catering in the programme afterwards, which although expensive at £40 +VAT, I would have loved to have tried (presumably it includes the match ticket and a programme?). They should have followed the Macclesfield example and encouraged away fans to book in advance.
The Us were kitted out in yet another variation which didn't use the Wycombe shirt, this time we had the white shirt, navy shorts, white socks, and was reminiscent of an 80's England home kit. Morecambe went for red shirt and white shorts, like a WC2006 England away kit.
As for the game, I was mystified by the early free-kick given for Clarke handling outside the area. He caught the ball and rolled out of the area, and with the ball just touching the line once play had stopped, looked to the ref, picked the ball up and the free kick was given. If the ball was out then, why not when he rolled out in the earlier movement? This early incident set the Oxford fans against the referee for the rest of the game.
I thought we were lucky not to concede in the first quarter of an hour, as the pressure seemed to be all from Morecambe, and we seemed to give the ball away and get tackled just as easily as against Boro midweek.
This time, the Us did get the result, McLaren's free kick being a nicely worked set piece, and Asa Hall also getting a good goal in front of us away fans. Jack Midson appeared for a ten minute cameo and will be disappointed he did not convert a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, although Constable had similar missed opportunities last week against Rotherham. Simon Hackney came on too, again looking dangerous on the wing, and I think will be a regular substitute on the hour mark to liven things up.
The Morecambe scoreboard was a flashy multicoloured led screen which showed time elapsed by the second, and makes our own two line red scoreboard look decidedly dated. Unfortunately they switched it to adverts as soon as the final whistle had blown, but luckily Darrell had taken a picture with the 3-0 scoreline.
After a quick detour to the bay for pictures by the Eric Morecambe statue and an unsuccessful search for fish and chips, we were filling up at a petrol station on the way out of town, when three Morecambe players jumped out of a Mercedes saloon, to stock up on sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks. This was only about 30 minutes after the final whistle, and they were all in training kit, so it seems that diet, warm downs and showers don't form part of the Morecambe training regime.
On the way back down South, it was easy to see why their crowds are so low, with so many other clubs of a higher standard all within the same north east region.
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