Morecambe manager reflects on their final pre-season outing

Adam Lakeland said his Morecambe players’ weekend performance against Barrow AFC produced some good signs ahead of the National League North kick-off on Saturday, writes DEREK QUINN.

The Shrimps lost 1-0 to a controversial late Olly Crankshaw penalty but Lakeland said he saw plenty of promising signs to take into the new season.

He said: “I thought we competed incredibly well, were organised and pretty comfortable for large spells of the game.

“It was a pretty dull game overall and I think they won it with what was a soft penalty, when their player was never going to get on the end of the through ball but went down after a short pull from Lewis Baines.

“They are a team who has just come out of the Football League and have been well backed for this season in the National League - and I thought we were very competitive, so there were plenty of positives.

“We would like to be better with the ball, more threatening and would have liked to have created more chances, but I know we will get better as the season goes on.

“What we have shown today and over the pre-season is that we are incredibly organised.

“We are going to be very solid and that is a great starting point for any team that has aspirations of being competitive in any league.

“The good thing about this game is that we came through the game unscathed with no more injuries and minutes in players’ legs - and now we can all prepare for the season opener this week in training.”