Who's The Daddy: Local football brings sunshine on a Saturday afternoon
It was only supposed to be a fling, a little Saturday afternoon delight, something to scratch the itch, but now I’ve fallen in love.
It’s not something you expect at my age, but the thunderbolt struck at around 4.50pm on Saturday January 28 in a chilly main stand at a football ground.
Morecambe FC had led Bristol Rovers a merry dance all afternoon with a performance that made your heart sing. 5-0 up and cruising. Then, in the 90th minute, they conceded what you’d think was a pretty meaningless consolation goal, but what I saw next made me realise that we had something special.
As the defenders turned and readied themselves to restart the game, they looked absolutely furious. They’d been denied the clean sheet their immense performance deserved and they were livid. And I thought, “You’ll do for me.”
Even when the ball just wouldn’t bounce their way earlier in the season, this Morecambe team had something special. They scrap for literally everything. Every loose ball, every header, every blocked cross and every time they nick it off a nippy winger’s toe and boot it out for a throw to buy time to regroup, they fight for each other.
Of course, it helps when you have an octopus in goal who saves penalties for fun (Connor Ripley, five in six at the time of writing, another one last Saturday).
They’ve been a pleasure to watch, especially the young lads on loan from footballing giants visibly growing and maturing into steely battlers, learning the craft of how to win proper football matches.
And then there was Dan Crowley’s home debut last Saturday, as well as impressive home bows for new loanees Dynel Simeu and Michael Mellon.
Watching this classy midfield general pull a handy Rovers side apart like a croissant I thought, “Where have you been all my life?” Turns out Arsenal, Barnsley, the Netherlands, Birmingham and Hull, among others.
If the following sounds patronising, that’s not how it was intended.
After 40 years of kicking every ball for Man Utd and 15 years on a national paper’s sports desk, I think I’m done with “big football”. Someone told me last week, this is football you can touch.
Morecambe might stay up, they might not (with their gutsy work ethic and recent home record I’ve got a sneaking feeling they will) but it won’t be for the want of trying. Come on lads, bring me sunshine.
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