Morecambe look to return to winning ways when they travel to South Yorkshire on Tuesday 1 February to take on Sheffield Wednesday in Sky Bet League One.
The Shrimps were held to a 2-2 draw at the weekend when they were in Lancashire derby action away at Accrington Stanley.
Jonah Ayunga netted twice before the half-hour mark to give the Shrimps a two-goal lead, however Colby Bishop and Michael Nottingham struck before the break to put the home side back on level terms.
Neither team could find a winner in the second half meaning that the points were shared at the Wham Stadium.
In the reverse fixture, Stephen Robinson’s men claimed all-three-points against the Owls thanks to a Dennis Adeniran own goal. The two sides also met in the FA Cup First Round back in 2011, but the Shrimps were beaten 2-1.
The Opposition
Darren Moore’s men find themselves eighth in League One and are six points off the Play-Off places. The Owls were relegated to the third tier on the final day of last season after drawing 3-3 with Derby County. They would have retained their place in the Championship if it hadn’t been for a six-point deduction. Wednesday come into the clash against the Shrimps on a mixed run of form with three defeats and two victories from their last five games.
As a player, Moore began his career at Torquay United before going on to play for a number of clubs including Bradford City, West Bromwich Albion, Derby County and Barnsley. The centre-back was also capped twice for Jamaica.
Moore was appointed permanent manager of West Brom after a spell as Caretaker Manager. At the time of his dismissal, the Baggies were fourth in the Championship. He returned to another former club in Doncaster Rovers the following summer and guided them to a ninth place finish in what was the season that was curtailed due to COVID. The 47-year-old left Rovers at the beginning of March the following season to take charge at Hillsborough.
Key players
28-year-old Josh Windass joined Sheffield Wednesday initially on-loan before making the move permanent in September 2020. At the start of this season, he suffered a hamstring injury which ruled him out for the first few months. After coming through the youth setup at Huddersfield Town, Windass went on to play for Harrogate Railway Athletic, Accrington Stanley, Rangers and Wigan Athletic before arriving in South Yorkshire.
Owls’ skipper Barry Bannan has been at Wednesday since 2015. The 32-year-old joined from Crystal Palace after a short loan spell at Bolton Wanderers. He has also been capped for Scotland over 20 times. The midfielder has contributed with three goals and four assists so far this campaign.
Florian Kamberi is at the club on a season-long loan from Swiss side St. Gallen. The 26-year-old has spent time at Grasshopper, Karlsruher SC, Hibernian and Rangers. He represented Switzerland at U20 and U21 level and has now been called up to the Albania national team. The forward has four goals for the Owls so far this season.
Shrimps’ pre-match thoughts
Manager Stephen Robinson said there’s no reason the Shrimps can’t get the win on Tuesday after beating Sheffield Wednesday earlier on this season at the Mazuma.
“They are a good team, they are a huge football club obviously, but on the pitch we have shown that there is not a lot of difference as we have beaten them before,” Robinson said.
“There is no reason why we can’t do that again, I feel like we are on a good run of form, the confidence is building and growing, we have changed a lot of things over the last six month and we are starting to reap rewards.
“This is a bonus game for me, we have absolutely nothing to lose, nobody expects anything outside of our dressing room, we have learned a lot about ourselves recently and we will go there with a lot of confidence.”
Meet the men in the middle
Ollie Yates will take charge of Tuesday night’s match.The Staffordshire-based official will be assisted by linesmen Joe Clark and Grant Taylor. Robert Madley will be the Fourth Official.
Yates has been the man the middle 16 times this season and has awarded 58 yellow cards and two red cards.
Yates last refereed the Shrimps back in December when they were subjected to a 5-0 defeat away at Sunderland.
Don’t miss a kick with our iFollow coverage
After teaming up with Beyond Radio for the 2021/22 season, supporters will be able to listen to exclusive, full and uninterrupted radio commentary of every single game, home and away, which will be broadcast simultaneously on 103.5FM, 107.5FM and DAB+ digital radio across North Lancashire and South Cumbria as well as on the iFollow Shrimps platform.
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