Portsmouth Title Winner Handed First League Appearance In Two Years

A Pompey title winner has finally returned to league football – two years after his last appearance.

Ryan Schofield made his debut for struggling Morecambe on Saturday in their League Two clash with Notts County.

Signed last month following his Fratton Park release in the summer, the 25-year-old was unable to prevent yet another defeat for Derek Adams’ side, who slipped to a 2-0 loss.

Remarkably, it represented Schofield’s first Football League outing since featuring on loan at Crawley in February 2023.

On that occasion, his team slumped to a 5-2 home defeat to League Two Carlisle – with Owen Moxon among the scorers – and hadn’t played again in the Football League until Saturday.

The former England youth international, of course, spent last season at Fratton Park, yet never made a league appearance during an unsuccessful stay.

He was Will Norris’ back-up and a regular on the bench in the opening half of the promotion-winning campaign, while featured six times in cup competitions for John Mousinho’s men.

Subsequently, Matt Macey was recruited as a free agent to serve as number two, with the former Huddersfield man out of squad contention for the remainder of 2023-24 and released in the summer.

However, after recovering from an elbow injury and spending time rehabbing at Fratton Park, Schofield finally found a new club last month when Morecambe snapped him up.

Having spent five successive matches as an unused substitute for his new club, he replaced first-choice keeper Harry Burgoyne for Saturday’s trip to Meadow Lane.

Yet it finished in a 10th defeat in 13 matches in all competitions for the Shrimps, with ex-Pompey winger and eight-goal leading scorer Ben Tollitt appearing off the bench in the 82nd-minute.

The latest blow keeps Morecambe second from bottom of League Two, still three points from safety with a game in hand.

The club are also in turmoil off the pitch, with a takeover from Punjab Warriors still to go through and current owner Jason Whittingham admitting he ‘can’t wait to get out’.

Morecambe began the January transfer window under an embargo, leaving them unable to sign players unless they could offer proof of funds to the Football League that they could complete the season.

That finally arrived five days before the start of the window, with Gerard Garner (Barrow) and Andy Dallas (Barnsley) subsequently recruited on loan.