Morecambe vs Barnsley Preview

Written by Alfie Broomhead

Barnsley make their way to a depleted Morecambe side at the weekend hoping to pick up a vital 3 points in their promotion hunt. It has certainly been an entertaining start to the season with Barnsley and Morecambe sitting 6th and 24th respectively.

After Saturdays 0-0 draw away at Bolton Barnsley manager Ian Evatt thought they were “good value for the point”. It was certainly a frustrating game with both teams struggling to find the back of the net. Barnsley come into the game at the weekend with 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss to their name in the last 5 games however a disappointing 2-0 loss to Exeter as well as Last weekend’s stalemate with Bolton isn’t the run in Barnsley fans would have wanted.

No fresh injuries have been reported as of this article being posted however Barnsley will be out the services of midfielder Luke Thomas for quite a while as he recovers from a broken leg sustained in training as well as Irish defender Conor McCarthy.

Even though Morecambe sit rock bottom of League one for the time being a 1-1 draw against a rejuvenated Burton side leaves them 6 points from safety. A thunderbolt from Morecambe’s Ryan Delaney was enough to scrap a point however Morecambe fans will be wanting a lot more from their team if they want to survive for a second successive season in league one.

After the game against the Brewers Morecambe manager Derek Adams was pleased with the “team spirit” the group showed to come away with a point however many fans on social media feel the point “wasn’t enough”.

League one is one of the most unpredictable leagues in England and arguably the world so Barnsley fans will not be getting ahead of themselves. With both teams having individual points to prove at the opposite ends of the table it will be interesting to see how this game plays out.

Both teams have players to look out for ahead of the game and for Barnsley I have chosen Devante Cole as the one to look out for. Cole certainly has a point to prove in league one after an underwhelming season in the Championship. So far this season he has scored a reasonable 4 goals and 1 assist in 13 games for the Tykes however don’t let this stat fool you. His induvial performance against rivals Sheffield Wednesday raised the eyebrows of many Barnsley fans due to his tidy finish against the owls. With no goals in his last 3 games Cole will certainly be wanting to end the run against a shaky Morecambe side.

For Morecambe I have picked another striker with a point to prove Kieran Phillips. Now last year all the headlines were on Morecambe’s main man Cole Stockton after an unbelievable season. Stockton somehow coughed up 23 goals and 4 assists in the 21/22 season for a Morecambe side who only just scraped survival. However Unfortunately for Morecambe and Stockton he hasn’t been able so far to hit the heights of last season with the striker failing to score or assist in 9 league games as of now. With this in mind I have chosen on loan Huddersfield man Kieran Phillips. The 22-year-old striker has so far scored 3 goals and earned himself one assist in 8 games so far for the Shrimps. Morecambe are clearly struggling to find the net and with Stockton struggling to find the same form he showed last season it could come down to the young striker to get Morecambe the kick they need.

Prediction: Morecambe 0-2 Barnsley

With Morecambe sitting rock bottom of the league struggling to find form and Barnsley needing a win to keep their promotion hunt on track I think Barnsley should have enough quality to come away from the seaside with 3 vital points.