Morecambe boss takes pride in their display against Preston North End

The Shrimps were beaten 4-2 by Preston North End at the Mazuma Stadium with the 4,334 supporters in attendance watching an exhilarating, end-to-end match.

Emil Riis’ double had North End 2-0 ahead just after the half-hour, only for Anthony O’Connor and Cole Stockton to get Morecambe back on level terms.

However, Ryan Ledson’s stunner restored North End’s lead before a late Sepp van den Berg goal wrapped up victory.

Robinson said: “The performance was top class, I don’t think anyone would have known who was the Championship side and who was the League One side.

“However, we’ve lost the game. We’ve conceded four goals and you don’t deserve to win the game.

“We’ve created loads of chances and that’s a positive. The boys in midfield were excellent and we’ve shown great composure but we’ve lost the game, so it’s disappointing.”

Riis’ clinical finish opened the scoring on seven minutes before he capitalised on a collision between Sam Lavelle and Jokull Andresson to make it 2-0.

Anthony O’Connor pulled one back from Greg Leigh’s cross with half-time approaching, after which Stockton’s clinical finish sent most of the Mazuma Stadium into raptures.

North End keeper Declan Rudd then made a fine save before Ledson gave Andresson no chance with a stunning strike into the top corner.

Van den Berg then converted from Greg Cunningham’s cross, and although an offside flag denied Stockton a second, the Morecambe crowd showed their appreciation for the Shrimps at full-time.

Robinson said: “I think we matched them apart from the last five minutes. We were the ones taking the game to them.

“The boys showed character to come back but the third goal kills it. You have to hold your hands up, it’s a magnificent strike.

“Preston are a very good side and I think the team they started with showed a lot of respect.

“They know we’re a decent side and they have the luxury of bringing on top players.

“We made a good game of it - not enough to get through to the next round - but there were a heck of a lot of positives.”

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