The Shrimps travel to Yorkshire for their second away game in a week as they take on Barnsley on Saturday 1 April at Oakwell in Sky Bet League One.
Last time out, Morecambe were beaten 1-0 by MK Dons. In the reverse fixture, Derek Adams’ side beat the Tykes 1-0, a win which kick-started a nine-game unbeaten run at the Mazuma Stadium.
Barnsley were last in action on Tuesday night and were beaten 3-1 by Exeter City away from home.
The Opposition
The South Yorkshire side sit fourth in League One with 22 wins, six draws and nine defeats from 37 games.
Barnsley were relegated from the Championship last season but have had plenty of success in the third tier. The Tykes have won the division three times in 1934, 1939 and 1955. Their most recent success in League One came in the play-offs, beating Swansea on penalties in 2006 and Milwall 3-1 in 2016.
Michael Duff is in charge at Oakwell and spent his career playing as a centre-back for Cheltenham and Burnley, making over 300 appearances for each club. The 45-year-old also made 24 appearances for Northern Ireland between 2002-2012. His managerial career began in 2018 with Cheltenham, where he guided the club to automatic promotion from League Two in 2020/21, and joined Barnsley at the start of this season.
Key Players
Striker Devante Cole is the Tykes' top scorer so far this season with 12 goals as well as two assists. Cole brings plenty of EFL experience to the Barnsley side with previous spells at Bradford City, Fleetwood Town, Wigan Athletic and Doncaster Rovers. The 27-year-old has also made appearances for England at youth level, from U16 to U19.
Former Shrimps' midfielder Adam Phillips has also been impressing at Oakwell this season. Phillips spent three loan spells at the Mazuma Stadium, most recently last season from Burnley where the 25-year-old scored six goals in 38 appearances. This season, Phillips has nine goals and six assists to his name so far.
Striker James Norwood has been the perfect partner for Devante Cole up top this season. The 32-year-old has nine goals and four assists to-date. Norwood made a name for himself at Forest Green Rovers between 2011-15, where he scored 50 goals in 163 appearances. He also scored 93 goals in 180 games for Tranmere Rovers and, most recently, scored 26 goals in 88 appearances for Ipswich Town.
Michael Duff’s Thoughts
Speaking to the Barnsley website, Tykes' boss Michael Duff expects to come up against an expansive Morecambe side.
"I've watched their last two away games, 3-4-3 and really, really expansive,” he said.
"They've got quite a few Premier League appearances in the team as well. It will be difficult.
"They'll want to dominate the ball. We have to be wary of that, but we've been good against the ball and we've got our own fight."
Meet The Officials
Sebastian Stockbridge will take charge of Saturday's game and will be assisted by Christopher Ward, Paul Stonier and fourth official Bradley Hall.
Stockbridge has refereed 28 games across all competitions this season with 11 in League One, nine in League Two, three in the FA Cup, two in the Carabao Cup and Papa Johns Trophy respectively and one in the Championship.
The official has been in the middle for two Morecambe games this season, a 1-1 draw against Fleetwood Town at the Mazuma in August and, most recently, a 2-0 home win over Accrington Stanley in December.
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