Preview: Morecambe v Wycombe Wanderers

Wycombe Wanderers travel to Morecambe on Saturday for their 38th league game of the season.


The league table currently shows Wycombe in 3rd place with 61 points from 37 games and Morecambe in 19th spot with 43 points from 38 games

Morecambe Home Record...Won 5 - Drawn 7 - Lost 7 - Pts 22 (Rank-21)

Wycombe Away Record......Won 8 - Drawn 5 - Lost 5 - Pts 29 (Rank-3)


Wycombe make their first trip to the Globe Arena on Saturday having never lost to Morecambe in seven previous meetings.

The Shrimps moved into their new 6,476 capacity stadium at the beginning of the current campaign with high hopes of promotion after finishing 4th last season.

It hasn't worked out that way though, and apart from a run of four wins in five games at the turn of the year which briefly elevated them to 10th, the Lancashire side have struggled in the bottom half of the table all season.

Still capable of pulling off a surprise result on their day, the Shrimps have done the double over Shrewsbury and raised a few eyebrows with a fine 2-0 win at Chesterfield last month.

Their five league victories at the Globe Arena this season were against the Shrews, Stockport, Port Vale, Torquay and Southend.

With Stevenage and Torquay charging up the table like there's no tomorrow, Shrewsbury still within touching distance and Gillingham unbeaten in their last twelve outings, Wycombe need to start finding the net and winning games if they hope to remain in the automatic promotion places.

With just one victory in their last five games, the Blues are 17th in the form guide and unless that changes, a top-three spot will be beyond them.

We've been here before of course. As recently as 2009, the Blues were reversing down the table at an alarming rate before John Akinde arrived on-loan and scored seven goals in eleven games to rescue promotion by the narrowest of margins.

You get the feeling something similar is required this time, and in the absence of a knight in shining armour, one of Wycombe's current strikers will have to find a rich vein of form in front of goal if the Blues are to fend off the chasing pack and claim a top three spot.

Stuart Lewis and Chris Westwood are both injured, but Andy Sandell could return to the squad after two months out with knee ligament damage. Kieran Murtagh has returned from his loan spell at Woking.

Morecambe keeper Barry Roche is fit again after missing the last four games with a thigh injury, but skipper Stewart Drummond is suspended.

Top-scorer Phil Jevons scored four goals in 18 minutes for the Shrimps' reserves in a 7-2 victory at Macclesfield on Wednesday evening.


Here are all the stats......


Morecambe's last five games (All Competitions)

LG2: Southend (H)...........Won 2-1

LG2: Bury (A)..................Lost 0-1

LG2: Bradford (H)............Lost 0-1

LG2: Barnet (A)...............Won 2-1

LG2: Macclesfield (H)........Lost 1-2



Wycombe's last five. games (All Competitions)

LG2: Chesterfield (A)........Lost 1-4

LG2: Aldershot (H)..........Drew 2-2

LG2: Barnet (A)...............Won 1-0

LG2: Stevenage (H)..........Lost 0-1

LG2: Shrewsbury (A)......Drew 1-1



Morecambe Goal Stats (42 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total)..........Lg: 45...Cups: 3...Total: 48

Goals Conceded (Total)......Lg: 56...Cups: 5...Total: 61

Goals Scored (Home).........Lg: 22...Cups: 3...Total: 25

Goals Conceded (Home).....Lg: 24...Cups: 3...Total: 27

Clean Sheets.....................Lg: 8.....Cups: 1...Total: 9



Wycombe Goal Stats (43 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total)...........Lg: 52...Cups: 11...Total: 63

Goals Conceded (Total).......Lg: 44...Cups: 11...Total: 55

Goals Scored (Away)..........Lg: 23...Cups: 4.....Total: 27

Goals Conceded (Away)......Lg: 22...Cups: 1.....Total: 23

Clean Sheets......................Lg: 12...Cups: 1.....Total: 13



Morecambe's Top Goal Scorers - (All Competitions)

Phil Jevons................7 (inc 2 pens)

Stewart Drummond....6

James Spencer..........6

Paul Mullin.................4

Andrew Fleming.........4

Scott Brown..............3

Laurence Wilson........3 (inc 3 pens)

Chris McCready........3

Four other players have each scored two goals.

Four other players have each scored one goal.



Wycombe's Top Goal Scorers - (All Competitions)

Scott Rendell..........12 (inc 6 pens)

Gareth Ainsworth......9

Kevin Betsy..............7

Andy Sandell............7

Stuart Beavon...........5

Ben Strevens............5

Matt Bloomfield.........3

Lewis Montrose.........3

Jon-Paul Pittman.......3

Three other players have each scored two goals.

Three other players have each scored one goal



Morecambe Shooting (Top-3) - All Competitions

Phil Jevons..............30 on-target...30 off-target...1 against woodwork

James Spencer........30 on-target...26 off-target...2 against woodwork

Stewart Drummond..17 on-target...27 off-target...1 against woodwork



Wycombe Shooting (Top-3) - All Competitions

Kevin Betsy............20 on-target...46 off-target...2 against woodwork

Gareth Ainsworth....20 on-target...32 off-target...3 against woodwork

Stuart Beavon........22 on-target...23 off-target...2 against woodwork



Shooting (Club) - League Games Only

Morecambe.198 on target...255 off target...15 against w'work (Rank-2)

Wycombe....153 on target...213 off target...15 against w'work (Rank-12)



Most Assists

Morecambe - Mark Duffy......7

Wycombe - Kevin Betsy.......6



League Form Guide

All Season

Morecambe.Pld: 38...W: 11...D: 10...L: 17...Pts: 43...Pts per game: 1.13

Wycombe...Pld: 37...W: 17...D: 10...L: 10...Pts: 61...Pts per game: 1.65



First-half of the season

Morecambe...Pld: 23...W: 8.....D: 6...L: 9...Pts: 30...Pts per game: 1.30

Wycombe......Pld: 23...W: 11...D: 7...L: 5...Pts: 40...Pts per game: 1.74



Second-half of the season

Morecambe....Pld: 15...W: 3...D: 4...L: 8...Pts: 13...Pts per game: 0.87

Wycombe......Pld: 14...W: 6...D: 3...L: 5...Pts: 21...Pts per game: 1.50



Last Five league Games

Morecambe.......WLLWL - 6 points (Rank-11)

Wycombe.........LDWLD - 5 points (Rank-17)



Last Five League Games (Home)

Morecambe.......DLWLL - 4 points (Rank-21)



Last Five League Games (Away)

Wycombe.........LWLWD - 7 points (Rank-10)



Against Top Half Opposition

Morecambe....Pld: 19...Pts: 20...Pts per game: 1.05...(Rank-15)

Wycombe......Pld: 18...Pts: 23...Pts per game: 1.28...(Rank-8)



Against Bottom Half Opposition

Morecambe....Pld: 19...Pts: 23...Pts per game: 1.21...(Rank-20)

Wycombe......Pld: 19...Pts: 38...Pts per game: 2.00...(Rank-3)



Previous Meetings

In 7 previous meetings there have been 4 wins for Wycombe, 0 for Morecambe and 3 draws.

1992/93: FAT Morecambe 1 Wycombe 1

1992/93: FAT Wycombe 2 Morecambe 0

2007/08: LG2 Wycombe 2 Morecambe 0

2007/08: LG2 Morecambe 0 Wycombe 1

2008/09: LG2 Wycombe 1 Morecambe 1

2008/09: LG2 Morecambe 0 Wycombe 0

2010/11: LG2 Wycombe 2 Morecambe 0



The Man In The Middle

Saturday's referee is Trevor Kettle from Lincolnshire who was promoted to the National List of Referees in 2003. His last Wycombe game was a 2-1 home-defeat to Millwall in this season's Carling Cup. During the current campaign he's issued 10 red and 84 yellow cards in 24 games.



Prediction

Morecambe 1 Wycombe 1

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