Morecambe 3 Forest Green Rovers 0: Jim Bentley hails the Shrimps’ collective performance

Morecambe boss Jim Bentley was delighted for everyone involved at the club following Saturday’s win against Forest Green Rovers.
Rhys Oates opened the scoring after six minutes at the Globe ArenaRhys Oates opened the scoring after six minutes at the Globe Arena
Rhys Oates opened the scoring after six minutes at the Globe Arena

The Shrimps moved eight points clear of the League Two relegation places thanks to goals from Rhys Oates, Aaron Collins and Alex Kenyon.

While Rovers’ manager Mark Cooper would not speak to the media afterwards, Bentley was only too happy to talk about Morecambe’s third victory in their last five league outings.

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Victory snapped the back-to-back losses against Lincoln City and Yeovil Town and moved the Shrimps up to 20th place in the table.

It was only their fifth win of the season at home and it also ensured a first league double of the campaign following November’s victory at The New Lawn.

“It’s a great result for us all,” Bentley said afterwards.

“We haven’t won at home for a while and we have lost the last two.

“We shouldn’t have lost the (Yeovil) game but we’ve bounced back in front of our own fans.

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“We’re desperate to do well and we’d touched on certain things, not only with the ball but without the ball.”

That work without the ball manifested itself in the way Morecambe defended excellently as a unit in the second half.

Forest Green forced three good saves from Shrimps’ keeper Mark Halstead, while Ritchie Sutton and Steve Old both made goalline clearances in each half.

Nevertheless, although Forest Green had much of the possession, they struggled to find a way through the massed ranks of Morecambe’s defence.

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Bentley said: “It was very similar to what we did at their place when they had something like 75 per cent possession but you have to give people the respect they deserve and we’d worked on how they play.

“With them being quite open in how they play, they are a good footballing side pushing for promotion.

“Sometimes you have to find a way of winning; sometimes you come up against teams who handle the ball better than you and you have to do something else.

“We found a way and I was very pleased with how they carried the information we gave them.

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“We scored three goals and kept a clean sheet; I think two of their best chances were down to us first half.

“We’ve got to tighten up at times but while it was smash and grab down there, we deserved the points today and it’s been a great day for us all.

“We have another big game on Tuesday (against MK Dons) and we have to try and back it up with another win.”