Just got back from the game, mixed feelings really. The CCFC fans can be proud because considering it is their first game in a new stadium and it's against Championship opposition, we completely outsang them pretty much all game and the standing up section in the away end was basically empty! Even at 2-0 up they didn't make a lot of noise. Points from the game:
Sam Allardyce was spotted in the car park of the ground by quite a few CCFC fans (including my brother who didn't bother to point him out to me!!!) Not sure who he would have been watching...Morecambe superstars?
In the first 30-40 minutes it felt like we were Man United, completely dominating and looking like getting a comfortable win - Morecambe barely got the ball out of their own half in this time. Chris Hussey was the stand out player for me, so unlucky to hit the post with a great effort after showing nice skill to take one of their defenders on. Shame he got injured, it didn't look too serious so hopefully he won't be out for long. Looked to me like we should have had a penalty when McIndoe was brought down in the box as well. After all the domination Morecambe managed to string a couple of good long passes together to break us down and score with an easy finish just before HT.
A bad end to an otherwise solid first half and the tables completely turned. We basically made Morecambe look like Real Madrid for most of the second half and I'm not really sure who was playing in what position because we were all over the place. Bell and Hussey were replaced by 16 year olds who looked out of their depth but I won't slate them for that because they are still learning and they need more experience playing games, far too early in their careers to have any kind of judgement on how they will do.
Stand out players:
Chris Hussey - Before going off injured he was easily the best player on the pitch although his corner taking was pretty poor!
James McPake - You have to admire him to throw himself in challenges where he is likely to get hurt! Doesn't phase him though, top defender and did well tonight.
Flops:
Roy O'Donovan - Worked hard and did a lot of running but wasn't any real threat to Morecambe and wasted a good chance.
Michael McIndoe - Pretty much the same as Roy really, worked hard but with no end result especially in the second half.
While obviously I love to win and I paid money to go to this game to watch our 2nd team hopefully we will be better off out of this cup in the long run. Was nice to see Morecambe's new ground where a small amount of travellers outsang the home support on their special day.
Looking forward to Watford on Saturday to see if the likes of Eastwood and Jutkiewicz can carry on their good form from the Pompey game.
PUSB