Morecambe 3 Tranmere Rovers 4: Match reaction

Jim Bentley: “It was an excellent game and we got on the wrong end of it.

“It’s very disappointing; there’s a lot of inexperience in the backline but, going the other way, there were some excellent chances.

“We should be beating teams by scoring three goals at home but, when you come back from 3-1 down, whatever happens, you don’t lose it.

“It looked like we had the momentum (at 3-3) but (Zoumana) Bakayogo did well, had great pace and it’s a fantastic finish in the top corner for the winner.

“I can’t criticise the players who gave it their all; I said to them that the fans will appreciate it if they work hard and put a stint in.

“I think we’re playing some lovely football at times but, at the back, we have to show a little more.

“There is some inexperience in the backline but that’s an area that we need to step up.

“It was eventful to say the least but I’m absolutely gutted that we lost it.

“I go on about luck and, sometimes, you need a bit of luck coming from the officials.

“I might have been criticised in the past in going on about luck but it does play a large part; there was a situation with a handball against Oliver Banks which I’ve looked back on and it’s a penalty.

“There was inconsistency for both sides but it wasn’t the ref who put the ball in the net.”

Micky Mellon: “We have to be pleased picking up three points away from home.

“There are things we will be disappointed about but that would be taking away from what was a proper game of football.

“Sometimes, as a coach, you have to step back and say ‘what a game’.

“If you cover the whole game, we could have had a lot of goals – and we did get a lot of goals – but it was one of those strange days where it kept running away and there was no real shape to it whatsoever.

“I’m trying to be careful anything away from two groups of players who had a right good go but it was fantastic.

“We lost our top scorer and scored four goals which summed it up but all credit to both sets of players and fans for creating a brilliant atmosphere.

“I’ll be honest, I thought we were cruising from thereon in at 3-1 and we had a couple of chances after that to get a fourth but anything could have happened – and it did.

“All of a sudden it’s 3-3 but it was an unbelievable goal to win it; we’re delighted to get the winner and pick up a valuable three points but, from a coaching point of view, you wouldn’t want to see that every week.”