Match Preview: Morecambe v Sunderland - all the build-up ahead of the final day of the season!

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Saturday 30th April 2022

(19th) Morecambe v Sunderland (5th)

Sky Bet League One

Globe Arena

Kick-Off: 12:30

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Tickets & Match Coverage

Tickets: Tickets sold out.

TV/Stream: Full live match coverage available via www.safc.com to residents outside the UK and Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man only.

Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)

Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.com!

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The build-up...

The end to the regulation season is upon us, and as in so many years previously, our fate is yet unknown. We’ve topped the table at times this year, and at others we have dropped out of the reckoning for the top-six with a real fear we wouldn’t make it. We now find ourselves one victory away from sealing an extension to the season.

Knowing Sunderland as we do, however, means that we can almost guarantee a few twists and turns as the afternoon progresses.

If things aren’t going well at the Globe Arena, then attention will turn to Hillsborough, where Sheffield Wednesday take on Portsmouth, the Pirelli Stadium where Wycombe will be looking to take maximum points and Home Park, where Plymouth face an MK Dons side who can still make the top-two.

Only a win will confirm our place in the top-six without having to rely on other results and although we are unbeaten in six on the road, four of those games ended in a draw. In fact, if we look at our away form since the turn of the year, we have only recorded two victories out of the ten played away from the Stadium of Light, but on the flip side, only two have ended in defeat.

If it ends in stalemate on this occasion, we will need results to go our way. It’s going to be one of those days, isn’t it?

Photo by Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Unlike Cambridge United seven days ago, Morecambe are fighting for their lives to avoid relegation back to League Two. It’s their first season in their history in the third tier of the Football League and only a victory would confirm their League One status without having to rely on other results.

This meant it was the first-ever fixture in the Football League between the two sides back in early December, which didn’t go well for The Shrimps - ending in a 5-0 defeat. But it could well be a different Morecambe side to the one we faced before the festive season, due to the return of Derek Adams as manager when he replaced Stephen Robinson, who left to take charge at St Mirren in February.

Since then, Morecambe have had solid results, which has resulted in their fate being in their own hands on the final day of the season. Expect huge celebrations if Morecambe preserve their status in League One, and considering Derek Adams side have lost one in the last seven on home soil, suggests we’ll have to earn the three points we’ll need to extend our season.

Photo by Steven Paston/PA Images via Getty Images

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League One Form...

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Sunderland away form...

Morecambe home form...

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The betting...

The bookies have us as clear favourites at 4/6 to take maximum points, with Morecambe 15/4 and the draw 14/5.

But, the shortest odds for a correct score is 11/2 for a 1-1, followed by 6/1 for a tight 1-0 win for The Lads. A 2-0 and 2-1 Sunderland victories are not much longer at 7/1, and Morecambe are 12/1 to win via the only goal of the game.

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Head to head...

(All competitions home and away)

• Sunderland wins: 3
• Draws: 0
• Morecambe wins: 0
• Sunderland goals: 8
• Morecambe goals: 0

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Last time we met... at the Globe Arena

Tuesday 13th November 2018

Football League Trophy - Group Match

Globe Arena

Morecambe 0-1 Sunderland

[Maja 90’]

Sunderland: Ruiter, Hunter (Taylor), Oviedo, Bainbridge, Loovens, Ozturk, O’Nien, Power, Diamond (Connelly), Hackett (Neil), Maja Substitutes not used: Patterson, Kokolo, Young, Leonard

Morecambe: Iversen, Olosunde, Mattock, Lindsay, Ihiekwe, Robertson, Ladapo (Barlaser), Wiles, Morris (Smith), Crooks, Hastie (MacDonald) Substitutes not used: Szczepaniak, Brownsword, Old, Mandeville

Attendance: 2,377

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

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Played for both...

Neil Wainwright

Wainwright was signed for Sunderland from Wrexham as a highly rated right winger, but didn’t really get the chance to prove it before moving to Darlington in 2001. After seven years, he made the move to Morecambe where he spent three years, making over 60 appearances, and is now head of academy coaching at the Globe Arena.

Photo by Barrington Coombs/EMPICS via Getty Images

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