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Preview: Morecambe v Wycombe

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Wycombe Wanderers travel to in-form Morecambe on Saturday for a League Two fixture as we approach the business end of the season.



Morecambe are currently 10th in the table with 43 points from 33 games played, 25 of those points having been won on their home turf at Christie Park.

At the end of January the Shrimps were in 17th place but their superb recent run of form has seen them climb 7 places in the table.

Unbeaten in their last 7 games, Morecambe have had a terrific February so far. They began by beating current league-leaders Brentford 2-0 before drawing 1-1 with Lincoln. A 3-1 win over Chester was next and it was followed by a creditable 1-1 draw at Rochdale. Last Saturday the Shrimps won 2-0 at Aldershot and on Tuesday they came from two goals behind to win 3-2 at Grimsby.

That’s 14 points out of a possible 18 for Morecambe this month and that’s promotion form. There’s always one side who come from nowhere in the second half of the season and the Shrimps will feel that a play-off spot is not beyond them if they can keep playing to this standard.

The Shrimps have scored 40 league goals (23 at home) and have conceded 43 (16 at home).

14 different players have scored for Morecambe so far this season and their top marksman is Rene Howe with 11 goals in all competitions. Stuart Drummond is next in the Shrimps’ scoring charts with 6 goals to his name.




Wycombe Wanderers are currently 2nd in the league with 57 points from 31 games played, 27 of those points having been won on their travels away from Adams Park.

The Chairboys are currently 2 points behind league-leaders Brentford but have 1 game in hand.

It’s tight at the top now and with Bury and Rochdale breathing down their necks, Wycombe could find themselves out of the automatic promotion places on Saturday evening if they lose at Morecambe and other results go against them.

On the other hand, a victory could put them back on top if third placed Bury win at Brentford.

February has seen the Chairboys pick up 4 points from a possible 9.

A 1-0 defeat at Bradford was followed by a fine 1-0 win at Dagenham before they played out a goalless draw at home to Rotherham on Monday evening.

Having only scored 6 goals in the 8 games they’ve played since the turn of the year, Wycombe will be hoping that recent signings Jon-Paul Pittman and Stuart Beavon will start finding the back of the net quickly. Pittman is off the mark already with a fine goal against Dagenham and Beavon showed enough during his brief appearance against Rotherham to suggest that he certainly knows where the goal is.

Clean sheets were commonplace for Wycombe earlier in the season and it’s nice to see them making a comeback with Monday’s being the second in succession, taking the season’s total to 16.

Wycombe have scored 37 league goals (15 away from home) and have conceded 20 (10 away from home).

13 different players have scored for Wycombe in all competitions and the top marksman is Matt Harrold with 12 goals. Next highest scorer is the suspended Chris Zebroski who has found the net 6 times. New striker Jon-Paul Pittman got off the mark quickly with a superb goal against Dagenham and fellow newcomer Stuart Beavon will no doubt be keen to follow suit as soon as he can.




Current League Form

Last Five League Games

Morecambe: DWDWW – 11 points
Wycombe:…. DWLWD – 8 points


Last Five Home Games
Morecambe: LDWDW – 8 points


Last Five Away Games
Wycombe: DLDLW – 5 points




On the opening day of the season the two sides played out a 1-1 draw at Adams Park with Lewwis Spence scoring for Wycombe.

Last Season Wycombe won 2-0 at Adams Park with goals from Scott McGleish and John Sutton. They went on to do the double over the Shrimps when a stunning free kick from Stefan Oakes gave the Chairboys a 1-0 win in the return match at Christie Park.


Previous Meetings

2007/08: Lg2 Wycombe 2 Morecambe 0
2007/08: Lg2 Morecambe 0 Wycombe 1
2008/09: Lg2 Wycombe 1 Morecambe 1




Ref Watch

The Referee for this match is Mr P Gibbs
.

Mr Gibbs is in his first season as a Football League referee and has never been in charge of a Wycombe match before. So far this season he has overseen 18 games and has issued 42 yellow cards and 1 red.




Wycombe Team News

Lewis Hunt
will be out for a few more weeks with a broken bone in his foot.

Chris Zebroski is suspended for this game.




Another tough game against an in-form team who must be full of confidence after their recent run of results. My heart says a 1-0 win but my head says…..


Prediction

Morecambe 1 Wycombe 1

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