Morecambe boss: Pressure is on FA Cup opposition

The Shrimps travel to the Swansea.com Stadium (5.30pm), looking to make the last 32 for the first time.

It’s a third appearance in four seasons at this stage for Morecambe, following on from the trips to Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

Swansea may have a new face in charge with Luke Williams – whose Notts County team beat the Shrimps last week – in talks to become their head coach at the time of writing.

Irrespective of whoever is at the helm, Brannan wants his players to add their name to the list of FA Cup surprises.

He said: “It’s a free hit but we won’t go there and treat it like that; we’re going to go there and try to win the game.

“We are the underdogs. The pressure is all on them, so we will go there and give it our best shot.

“There have been a lot of upsets over the years, so it would be great for the club and the fans if we could do the same on Saturday.

“If we did win, it might not be the biggest shock in the world but it’s getting that thought into the players’ heads.

“We don’t know what impact any change of manager might have in terms of who they play but I guarantee, whatever 11 they put out, they will be top class players.

“However, we’ve got good players as well; it’s 11 versus 11 and we’ll see what happens on the day.”

Morecambe’s options, however, may be affected by a combination of injuries and illness at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium.

With Stuart Moore out for the foreseeable future and Donald Love still a couple of weeks away from returning, JJ McKiernan sustained an injury against Harrogate Town on New Year’s Day.

Brannan said of McKiernan’s absence: “I don’t know how long it’ll be but he’s out for this weekend.

“We’ve got a few sicknesses in the camp as well that we’ll be looking at.

“I’m not making excuses, there really has been sickness, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”