Angol gives the Shrimps hope in race against drop

By Derek Quinn

MORECAMBE 1

Angol 38

MORECAMBE: Burgoyne 7, Lewis 8, Williams 7, Stott 7, Tutonda 7, Jones 7, Songo’o 7, White 7, Dallas 7 (Dackers 71, 6) Angol 7 (Slew 80, 6) Hope 6 (Lewis 71, 6). Subs not used: Schofield, Tollitt, Cooke, Snowball.

SWINDON TOWN 0

SWINDON: Ripley 6, Sobowale 6, Wright 6, Freckleton 6, Cain 6 (Cox 45, 6) Ofoborh 6 (Tshimanga 64, 6) Kilkenny 6 (Cotterill 64, 6) Westley 6, Nichols 5 (Glatzel 64, 6) Ameen 6 (Butterworth 64, 6) Smith 6. Subs not used: Bycroft, Kirkman.

Att: 3,419 Rating: ★★★★★ Ref: Jamie O’Connor 6/10

MORECAMBE manager Derek Adams praised his side’s spirit after they secured a vital three points over Swindon at the Mazuma Stadium.

Lee Angol’s first-half strike was enough to earn the Shrimps the points as they moved off the foot of the table and within seven points of Tranmere.

Adams said: “I’m delighted for the players because it was a really good performance against a Swindon side who had been on a good run and had put themselves into a good place at the table.

“With Tranmere’s win on Friday night it was important that we won and we showed the determination, the character and the spirit we needed to get that win.

“We have shown a huge amount of effort all season but been the wrong side of narrow scorelines. Today we turned that round and got a 1-0 win with a fantastic all round team performance.’’

“We are seven points behind Tranmere and we know we need to keep winning games to keep the pressure on the teams above us and there is still a lot of football to play.’’

Angol struck in the 38th minute with his fourth goal in six games.

A long ball forward was won by Andy Dallas to teed up the striker, who produced a cool finish to beat Connor Ripley from eight yards out.

Dallas went close to a second in the 44th minute when the ball fell to him on the left hand side of the area but he could only volley wide of the target.

Swindon’s best chance came after 68 minutes when Paul Glatzel produced the perfect cross for Harry Smith but the striker could only head straight at Harry Burgoyne.

The Morecambe keeper was on hand to keep out the Robins when he made a fine double save from Tom Nichols and Botan Ameen and then clawed away a long-range effort from Nnamdi Oforborh that was heading for the bottom right hand corner.

Robins boss Ian Holloway was an unhappy man after the game.

He said: “I expected us to do far more damage to their units today, although their units are very well organised.

“I think we are a lot better than we performed today and we didn’t do anything like I expected us to do.

“We played into wrong areas that suited them and we just took too long to do anything and we didn’t deserve anything today.”