Derek Adams sees signs of improvement in Morecambe’s draw with Carlisle United

The Shrimps’ first game since losing 5-0 at Crewe Alexandra a fortnight earlier brought a much improved display and a point at the Globe Arena.

After a hectic start to his Morecambe reign, Adams has spent the fortnight between matches drilling his philosophy into the playing staff.

He was rewarded with a performance full of intensity, capped by John O’Sullivan’s equaliser.

Adams said: “We’ve been working extremely hard to get that into them; about keeping the ball better than we had been doing, trying to be forceful and get forward and get ourselves into good areas, to pass the ball into dangerous positions the opposition don’t like and I thought we did that a good number of times.”

Just as pleasing for the Shrimps’ boss was the way in which his players responded to going behind on Saturday.

Having fallen behind early in the second half, they were quickly back on level terms with O’Sullivan heading in his second of the season.

“We did that in the first game against Carlisle (EFL Trophy) when we played them and went 1-0 down and went on to win 3-1.

“I thought we did exactly the same and the players are responding to the work that we’ve given them over the last few weeks and will continue to improve.”

The point keeps Morecambe bottom of League Two but Adams was happy with his squad’s efforts.

“We’d have liked to have won the game and taken three points but, at this stage, it was a difficult game for us,” he said.

“They have just come in with a new manager (Chris Beech); that always brings something different from the opposition.

“We’ve dealt well with that, we’ve dealt well with the threat Carlisle are going to have. Steven Pressley put together a very good squad before he left; you look at the numbers and strength they have.”