Morecambe boss wants to rediscover the winning habit

The Shrimps welcome Barnsley to the Mazuma Stadium on the back of their midweek Papa Johns Trophy loss at Harrogate Town.

That was Morecambe’s eighth defeat in 18 games across all competitions during the course of this season.

Only two of the other 10 have ended in victory, though that figure increases to five if penalty shootouts are taken into account.

Adams’ players have only tasted league victory once, at Forest Green Rovers last month; a pivotal reason as to why they are bottom of the League One table with eight points from 13 matches.

The manager said: “We’ve been able to progress in the Carabao Cup and the Papa Johns but we really need to concentrate on the league campaign and try to pick up as many wins as we can.

“It was always going to be difficult, we understand that the competition we have in League One isn’t easy.

“At the same time, we’ve had injuries to attacking players who haven’t been able to play, which has affected us.

“Ash Hunter has only been off crutches for two weeks, so he’s a long, long way away from returning.

“We missed Cole Stockton for six games but he’s back fit, Kieran Phillips had only just come in, Caleb Watts has been out and so is Jake Taylor.

“We’ve missed a lot of attacking players, which hasn’t allowed us to play the way we want to play.”

Another of those attacking players, Arthur Gnahoua, is also unavailable as he completes the last of his three-game league suspension this weekend.

Tomorrow’s visitors lie sixth in the table as they look for a return to the Championship.

One familiar face in their camp is former Morecambe loanee Adam Phillips.

The 24-year-old had three spells with the Shrimps before moving from Burnley to Oakwell in the summer transfer window.

Adams said: “I signed Adam twice on loan and he was very good for this football club.

“I enjoyed the way he played and the risks he took with his passing to open up the opposition.

“He was also a goal threat – and I did try to get him back before he went to Barnsley.”