Barry Roche: We can attack the play-offs in 2016

Ahead of the turn of the year The Shrimps are 17th in the division but with games in hand are closer to the play-offs, nine points, than bottom two, 12.

The popular goalkeeper, who was in fine form in the 2-2 draw with Notts County on Monday, said: “Our form has been patchy but we’re still in a pretty reasonable position.

“We’ve got a couple of games in hand on some teams.

“You’ve still got to win those and put the points on the board but we’re still in a good position we feel for an attack on the play-offs.

“We’re disappointed that we don’t have a few more points on the board but we’ll be giving it everything we’ve got in the new year to try and get ourselves back into the top half.”

Key to making a sustained move up the table will be improved consistency, The Shrimps having won just one of their last eight in League 2 ahead of the trip to Wycombe on Saturday.

Roche said: “Thankfully at the moment we’re looking up rather than behind us.

“We’ve got to make sure we keep doing that and get more points on the board and that means putting a few wins together and get rid of this inconsistency that’s plaguing us a bit at the minute.

“There’s no reason why we can’t look forwards.”

One thing that hasn’t helped Jim Bentley’s side in their bid for improved form has been the wet weather which has made finding a suitable training venue difficult and seen games against Exeter and Mansfield called off.

Roche said: “It’s been very difficult, the big factor is the lack of proper training we’ve been able to do.

“It’s been that wet there’s literally nowhere to train.

“Maybe we tired a little bit towards the end today but the lads showed character and put their bodies on the line to really dig in when the going got tough.

“Fingers crossed there’s some better weather on the way so we can get a lot more football played.

“We’ve got a busy few months ahead with the rearranged games but it’s something to look forward to.”

The new year begins at high-flying Wycombe on Saturday with Roche seeing no reason why The Shrimps can’t replicate their 1-0 win at Adams Park in April that hit Gareth Ainsworth’s side’s promotion hopes.

Roche said: “It’s a very tough place to go.

“I don’t think there’s any easy places in this league any more.

“The lads showed last year what’s possible with a fantastic result against a high-flying Wycombe side.

“There’s no reason why if we do our jobs properly and work hard that we can’t go there and cause an upset.”