David Artell / David Artell / 20 February 2008 / Leave a comment " class="free-bet-btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">Free Bet

Morecambe's David Artell on postponed matches, being fined for losing your water bottle and Frank Lampard's superb achievement

This week has seen our last two games called off due to a frozen pitch. One part of the Christie Park pitch remains in the shade all day so the frost didn't thaw in time for the kick offs. Tuesdays' match I'll come to later but Saturday's match against Shrewsbury was particularly disappointing as the game was called off at 2.15pm. Why the referee decided at such a late stage I don't know. There was a pitch inspection at 1.45pm so if the pitch wasn't playable then it wasn't going to be playable half an hour later.

The Shrewsbury manager Gary Peters never left the referees' side and was delighted the game was called off as they had four experienced players out injured. I'm not sure what the protocol is regarding making such decisions but I've no doubt that if both managers had agreed the game would have been played. Our gaffer even accepted to defend the 'frozen' end in the first half but then Gary Peters decided it was a health and safety matter. The pitch cant have been that bad as we trained on it at 2.30pm for an hour while Shrewsbury and their fans got back on their coaches. It was a wasted trip that would have cost everyone a few quid.

Talking of money, the fine pot is growing if this last couple of weeks is anything to go by. There's no excessive fines at Morecambe but there's plenty of fines ranging from £2 to £10. The most common fines are if one of the lads forgets their water bottle or flip-flops. Both these fines are rigorously enforced because of their importance (as opposed to too many of the lads being in the physic room at one time- the maximum is three, more than that is a fine). As we are in charge of our own water bottles (to prevent infections), if one of the lads wants a water bottle count we all have to stand there with our water bottle on our head so its easier for Jim Bentley, the captain and the fine man, to see who hasn't got theirs. The flip-flop rule is also a common fine but needs to be enforced because it's so easy to stand on something sharp, cut your foot and not be available for the next game. Wearing flip-flops also prevents the spread of infections such as Athletes' Foot.

Back to Tuesdays' postponement which was against Grimsby in the area final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy and hopefully the first of two games that will take us to Wembley. Most of the lads have played at the new Wembley in last years' play-off final and are desperate to return. The best ground I've ever played at is Anfield. Running out to 'You'll Never Walk Alone' with all the flags and scarf's waving at a full Kop End really does make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Unfortunately we couldn't do 'a Barnsley' and lost 3-0.

Wembley will play host to the first final of the season on Sunday when Chelsea play Tottenham in the Carling Cup Final. With Frank Lampard back from injury, Chelsea will be a really difficult team to stop from scoring which is something that Tottenham's defence aren't particularly good at. Lampard adds another dimension to Chelsea and when he doesn't play they don't have as much of an attacking threat. To score 100 league goals for one club from midfield, which Lampard achieved last weekend, is quite incredible. As with most finals I think it will be quite a tight affair with a winning margin of one goal which you can back at [2.24].

David Artell plays for Morecambe FC:

https://www.morecambefc.com/

Tags: David Artell, footbal betting, Gary Peters, Morecambe FC