Morecambe 1-0 Barnsley
Sky Bet League One
The Mazuma Stadium
Saturday 22 October 2022
Kick-Off: 3:00pm
Attendance: 5,270 (1,756 away)
The Shrimps take all-three-points following an excellent performance against Barnsley.
Connor Ripley was called into action early on and did brilliantly to deny Nicky Cadden with his feet from close range at the back post.
Aside from that, chances of note proved few and far between in the opening 20 minutes, with both defences standing resolute, including an excellent Liam Shaw block to prevent a Tom Edwards strike from the edge of the box reaching its intended target.
The ball did fall to Cole Stockton on 26 minutes after a long throw into the mix from Ryan Cooney, but the striker couldn’t find the target.
Minutes later and it was Barnsley’s turn to try their luck; Some neat build up play saw the ball land at the feet of Josh Martin, but he could only drag the shot wide of Ripley’s right-hand post.
Six minutes before the break and the deadlock was broken; A long throw from Cooney again caused issues inside the Barnsley box, and the ball fell into the path of Kieran Phillips who made no mistake from close range.
Half-time: Morecambe 1-0 Barnsley.
The visitors came out fighting in the second half, with Josh Benson coming close to an equaliser on 50 minutes, but his powerfully struck effort from distance flew narrowly wide.
Barnsley looked to grow into the game and forced Ripley into an excellent save on 62 minutes when Benson’s dipping attempt looked to be goal-bound, but our number one tipped the ball over the bar at full stretch.
The Tykes continued to pose a threat on the Morecambe goal, with a flurry of set-pieces in quick succession, but Ripley did excellently to command his box and punch the danger clear time and time again.
Despite the visitors' efforts, Derek Adams’ side defended excellently and stood firm to every Barnsley chance of the afternoon.
Full-time: Morecambe 1-0 Barnsley.
Morecambe: Ripley ©, Gibson, Rawson, Delaney, Fane, Stockton (Connolly, 79’), Weir (O’Connor, 79’), Bedeau, Shaw, Cooney, Phillips (Mayor, 86’).
Subs not used: Smith, Love, Watts, McLoughlin.
Goals: Phillips 39’
Bookings: Cooney 65’, Connolly 87’, Shaw 90+1’.
Red cards: None.
Barnsley: Collins, Edwards, Kitching, Andersen ©, Cadden, Benson, Martin (Jalo, 72’), Cundy (Larkeche, 84’), Phillips (Aitchison, 59’), Cole, Connell (Kane, 46’).
Subs not used: Walton, Moon, Tedić.
Goals: None.
Bookings: Cundy 54’, Edwards 90’.