Morecambe boss Bentley disappointed by lacklustre Liverpool display

The match ended 2-2 at the Globe Arena on Saturday with Paul Mullin scoring both goals for the hosts to take his pre-season tally to seven.

But Bentley felt the first half had a “testimonial feel” and was looking for more from his players ahead of the League 2 opener at Hartlepool on August 8.

The Shrimps boss said: “We’ve been spot on in pre-season with the training and with our performances.

“I think all the previous games and the in-house stuff had a better tempo and better urgency but today, whether it’s because it’s our first Saturday game and the sun was out, it just had a testimonial feel to it.

“Whether people were expecting names to come and no-one did and it became a bit of a disappointment I don’t know.

“I have to say too that I don’t think we trained particularly well yesterday either.

“It’s the first time today that the new lads have heard me raise my voice at half-time.

“But we had that little bit of urgency in the second half and got our two goals.

“There was some good stuff at times and some indifferent stuff. It wasn’t a great performance and we know we’re better than that.

“It’s pre-season and we’ve got to make sure we continue to build on the good things we’ve done and just iron out one or two other little things.

“We’re unbeaten and there have been some strong performances throughout pre-season but I thought today was a little bit lacklustre.”

Adam Dugdale would have captained the side if fit after an ankle problem but the game came a day or two too soon and he could feature in the reserve team friendly at AFC Liverpool on Wednesday night.

Chris Doyle missed the game with an arm injury picked up against Blackpool while Tom Barkhuizen wasn’t risked due to a tight thigh.

Look back at the game with our Shrimps Live blog