Swindon Town gear up for their last game in League Two before the attention switches to the second round of the FA Cup.
The opposition the Robins will face are Morecambe, the side who are bottom of the fourth division and are three points away from safety.
The Shrimps have not left the relegation places since entering them, but with the lower-end of the table heating up, it could become all to play for with a few interesting results.
Style of play
Recently, a 4-3-3 has been the formation of choice for Morecambe, which is the style that Derek Adams has preferred to play throughout his time as a manager as he gained inspiration from the Dutch.
The Shrimps are a team that look to play quite deep and don’t press teams in the early stages of the build-up (the opposite to Accrington), with the mentality that they won't be on the front foot in many games.
They don’t stick tight with opposition players, which means Town should have room in the midfield to be creative and take the game at their own pace.
They are very defensively minded, with both wingers tracking back to support the defence which results in teams having a tough time breaking them down.
Table toppers Port Vale had a tough time and had to rely off a late Ethan Chislett goal to secure three points.
Their aim is to win the ball back and counter but it looks to be a struggle due to the striker being left up front on his own with two defenders marking them.
This suits Swindon as they will have the numbers out wide with the aim to stretch Morecambe whilst also having the numbers in midfield to keep a strong structure, which provides a good number of options around the pitch.
Onto the attacking view, the visitors will feed off mistakes that Town make and will act fast to counter on them, committing bodies forward. The full-backs push up into attacking positions whilst one winger inverts into a central position and the other remains out wide with the full-back. The central midfielders in this system need to be strong in attacking and defending as they will be tasked to heavily contribute in both situations.
They have a lack of midfield options with just the one of the three sat in the middle, which means their main outlets are out wide and that results in crosses - something Ian Holloway looks to improve in his team.
In the dugout
The man in charge of Morecambe is Adams, who is currently undergoing his third spell in at the club. He is an experienced manager and has won 285 games in his post-playing career.
In November 2019, he took the role of being the manager of the Shrimps but left after promotion to League One in the summer of 2021 to drop a division and join Bradford City, but just nine days after leaving the Bantams then following year, he was back for a second time.
He left again in November 2023 to join Scottish team Ross County, but with a win percentage of 16.7%, he stayed out of work until June where he now finds himself at his current role.
He was linked with a role at Swindon in the summer, with it being reported by Alan Nixon that talks had taken place but Town opted with former Lincoln boss Mark Kennedy.
Fan view
Ahead of the important clash, the Advertiser spoke with Morecambe supporter @MorecambeFCFeed on X to get their thoughts on the season so far and what they are expecting on Saturday.
They said: “As a Morecambe fan, you’re always prepared for everything being much tougher than it should be!
“Our stagnant ownership situation, the club having been up for sale for 26 months has led to a budget most National League sides would be worried with, so the expectations coming into the season were low.
“We have next to no depth but we have 13-14 lads who we’ve somehow dug out of non-league and un-fancied situations who do have quality and we deserve a fair few more points than we actually have.
“Most of the fanbase believes it’ll turn, especially under the guidance of esteemed League Two expert Derek Adams.”
The Shrimps have the lowest number of goals scored in the division and may be rock bottom, but they still have some players to keep an eye on.
“Tollitt, who was playing tier 6 football last season, can cause issues from out wide and has really found confidence in the last couple of months.
“He’s got a dozen goal contributions so far this season and doesn’t mind taking long-range shots on!
“Adam Lewis, a flying left-back signed from Liverpool, is a massive threat from open play deliveries and set pieces and winger Gwion Edwards is back in form after being out injured.”
Both sides going into Saturday’s game are down the wrong end of the table and the supporter does have some confidence ahead of the tie.
“Factually, we should be confident. We’re better than our league position suggests, albeit not that much better.
“We’ve got a small core group of players who are starting to become a proper unit, and have matched promotion-chasing Notts County, Bradford, Port Vale and Chesterfield, without securing the three points in any of those.
“We’ve won three of our last four away games, and after a bit of an injury crisis we’re back to almost full strength.
“However, it depends what side turns up (for both sides!) and this season we’ve seen good performances easily turn into losses from unfortunate moments.
“Ian Holloway will be keen to get a League win and a fixture at home to the bottom club will always be a motivation, especially with the talents of Dan Butterworth at his disposal.”
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