Morecambe pair up for monthly awards

Shrimps' boss Jim Bentley and keeper Barry Roche could be honoured for the club's fine start to the League Two season.
Barry Roche. Picture: Matt RushtonBarry Roche. Picture: Matt Rushton
Barry Roche. Picture: Matt Rushton

Both men are on the four-man shortlist for August’s Manager and Player of the Month awards respectively for League Two.

Bentley was listed after guiding the club to top spot thanks to four consecutive victories, following on from the opening day defeat at Grimsby Town.

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Also on the shortlist are Nathan Jones (Luton Town), John McGreal (Colchester United) and Adam Murray (Mansfield Town).

Convincing 3-0 victories at Plymouth and Cambridge helped Jones’ men to 10 points from five games and sent them second in the table at the end of the month.

McGreal’s first month in charge at Colchester brought three wins and a draw from five games as well as only five goals conceded – having let in 99 last time around.

As for Murray, he guided Mansfield to a 10-point haul from their opening five fixtures, with away victories at Newport and Leyton Orient.

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Roche was nominated following an opening month in which he kept two clean sheets from five matches, highlighted by excellent performances in the Shrimps’ victories against Portsmouth and Blackpool.

His competition for the player’s award comes from James Coppinger (Doncaster Rovers), Alex Kiwomya (Crewe Alexandra) and Brennan Dickenson (Colchester United).

Coppinger was handed the captain’s armband by Rovers and scored an equaliser in the draw with Crawley, one of two August goals to go with three assists.

Kiwomya was a substitute in Crewe’s opening two games but quickly established himself with individual goals at Stevenage and Newport.

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Dickenson was released by Gillingham in the summer and registered three goals and an assist in his opening five matches.

The winners of both categories will be announced on Friday, 24 hours before the Shrimps aim for a return to winning ways against Doncaster.