Shaun Beeley: Play-offs within Morecambe’s grasp

Jim Bentley’s side saw a tilt at the top seven fade away last year as they finished 11th in League 2.

Player of the year Beeley is encouraged by what he’s seen over pre-season and thinks an improvement is on the cards in 2015-2016 despite the Football League’s bottom tier looking as strong as ever.

The right back said: “I think it’s a realistic achievement with what we’ve got in the squad now.

“You can never tell though. This will be a stronger League 2 than last year with the teams that have come down.

“But we’re stronger too so why not look for the play-offs and see what happens?”

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Morecambe are once again being written off by bookies and experts alike but Beeley insists the dressing room will learn from last year’s mistakes.

He said: “With it being a small club and a smaller budget than most you’re going to get people who think we’ll struggle.

“But we know what we can do and where we went wrong last year and last year we were only a few points off the play-offs.

“If we had won a game here or there it would have been different.

“This year if we can tighten up a few little things I think we’ll have a good chance.”

Beeley will be looked upon as one of the senior players at the Globe Arena after being The Shrimps’ most consistent performer last year.

The 26-year-old knows however it will be tough to reach those heights again this season.

He said: “I want to try and improve on last year. Hopefully I’ll play as many games as I did and see if I can replicate last year.

“It’s nice to be looked at as a senior player.

“There’s so many good players here now though it’ll be tough to get the same accolades as I did last year.

“I’m looking forward to it and hopefully I’ll have a good run in the side.”

Beeley also knows he will have more competition than ever for the right back spot with Aaron McGowan continuing to make rapid progress.

He said: “I’m being pushed by AJ who I think is a very good right back as well.

“He’s chomping at the bit and he’s going to put a lot of pressure on me.

“He is a very, very good player and will have a good career if he keeps his head down.

“He’s someone in my eyes who is going to push me really hard and I’d rather have that than no competition at all.”

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