Morecambe squad hasn't been able to kill off their opposition

Defeats to Doncaster Rovers and Walsall meant Adams’ players have failed to leapfrog Tranmere Rovers and climb out of the bottom two.

The Shrimps are coming out of a seven-game run in which they have lost to the top three – Walsall, Bradford City and Doncaster – as well as fifth-placed Notts County.

A defeat at Newport County AFC made it five losses in those seven matches, but Adams remains of the view they should have had more than six points in that time.

He said: “If you look at those seven games, we’ve played four of the top five.

“The ones we have played who were in and about us, we’ve beaten Fleetwood and Accrington – and we should have beaten Newport.

“We want to try and turn those performances into results now because we have been very competitive.

“As a group, we’re working ever so hard and the supporters see that.”

Goalscoring has been the root cause of Morecambe’s struggles this season, having only managed 29 goals in 33 matches.

Illustrating how different things could have been, Crewe Alexandra occupy the final play-off spot despite only scoring 10 more goals than the Shrimps.

“We’ve lost 12 games 1-0 this season,” Adams said.

“If we had even picked up only two wins from that – and we were more than capable – it’s six points which would have moved us clear of the bottom two.

“We just haven’t been able to kill off teams when we’ve been on top.”