Miraculous survival on the cards for Morecambe with safety all but certain for Cambridge United

Ahead of a crucial match, Morecambe’s recent record against Cambridge United won’t fill them with confidence.

In April 2016, the U’s recorded the biggest win in their club’s history against the Shrimps, beating them 7-0 at The Abbey. Since Mark Bonner’s appointment, Morecambe have lost all three matches against Cambridge by an aggregate score of 9-1. The worst of these was a 5-0 thrashing at the Mazuma Stadium, a game that ironically took place in the same season that both sides won promotion from League Two.

Saturday’s match will make up the reverse fixture of Cambridge’s 2-0 win in Lancashire at the start of November. Morecambe, then managed by Stephen Robinson, started brightly but found themselves behind after Ben Worman’s astonishing volley. The Shrimps suddenly crumbled as the U’s imposed their physical dominance, with Joe Ironside bullying the hosts’ defence, scoring a penalty to seal the win with just over 15 minutes to play.

Goal of the season? ?

Completed it mate. ✅ #CamUTD pic.twitter.com/qQ2E6sVsWt

— Cambridge United FC ?? (@CambridgeUtdFC) November 3, 2021

Their upcoming clash at The Abbey will likely be totally different. Robinson departed Morecambe for Scottish side St Mirren at the start of February, a move bizarrely broken by European transfer guru Fabrizio Romano. The Shrimpers opted to bring back former boss Derek Adams following his sacking at Bradford City.

Where Morecambe were a bit of a soft touch under Robinson, this certainly wouldn’t be the case under Adams. The Scotsman led the Shrimps to promotion last season by playing an incredibly physical, direct style of football. While Robinson tried to phase out some of those tactics during his short spell in charge of the club, Adams’ style of play may help them to maintain their position in the third tier.

Morecambe are in the midst of a fierce relegation battle. While it seems incredibly unlikely that either Crewe Alexandra or Doncaster Rovers could overtake the Shrimps, AFC Wimbledon, Gillingham and Fleetwood Town will all fancy their chances of avoiding a bottom-four finish. Only two of those sides will be able to.

Fleetwood remain the favourites to retain their League One status. The Cod Army are sat in 19th, and while they’re on the same amount of points as Morecambe, they have an extra game in hand. Conversely, Wimbledon seem the most likely of the four teams to go down. Their 22-match winless streak has seen them plummet to 22nd, and many fans are have accepted that they will likely return to League Two for the first time since 2015/16.

This leaves Gillingham as Morecambe’s biggest relegation rivals. The Gills looked long gone under former boss Steve Evans, but Neil Harris’ return to Priestfield has given them a colossal ‘new manager bounce’. Whether that will be enough to avoid relegation remains to be seen, as the Kent outfit face a number of top teams in their run-in.

This gives Morecambe a huge opportunity, and so far it’s one that they’ve been able to take. The Shrimps travel to The Abbey on the back of consecutive wins, beating Burton Albion and promotion-chasing Oxford United at the Mazuma Stadium. This is the first time that they’ve recorded consecutive league wins all season, and victory against Cambridge could push them nearer to the safety line.

The U’s were flying high after consecutive 1-0 wins against Wimbledon and Ipswich Town, but were brought crashing back to Earth after a 4-1 thrashing at home to Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night. This was Cambridge’s second league home defeat in 2022, emphasising their impressive record at The Abbey since the start of the calendar year.

The defeat to Gareth Ainsworth’s men was the first match of Bonner’s experimentation period. The U’s boss has accepted that his side have done enough to remain in League One, allowing him to provide more opportunities to the bit-part players in his squad. Jack Lankester and Ben Worman were both given a chance to show their quality in the starting lineup, while left-back Jack Iredale made his return from injury by starting on the wing.

Bonner’s tweaks didn’t pay off in the end, but this is unlikely to deter him from making changes. Morecambe may benefit from playing a Cambridge side that are on the metaphorical beach. A number of key players may be rested ahead of two tough trips to Wigan Athletic and Sunderland in the coming weeks.

While the U’s won’t be sucked into the bottom four, they can secure mathematical safety by avoiding defeat on Saturday. From that point on, it depends on how determined they are to secure a high league position, with a top-half finish still on the cards despite Tuesday’s defeat.

Nonetheless, both Lankester and Worman will be expected to keep their places in the starting lineup despite their underwhelming performances in midweek. With Cambridge’s match against Wigan Athletic set to be broadcast on Sky Sports, Bonner may prefer to play academy graduates like Lewis Simper and Liam Bennett against Morecambe in order to rest some of his first-team regulars for the trip to the DW Stadium over Easter weekend.

A trip to Cambridge is rarely easy for any side, but Morecambe may have been presented with the opportune time to face the U’s. Turning two consecutive wins into three with their first win at The Abbey since 2019 would take them one step closer to securing safety.

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