Morecambe manager’s thoughts after they were pegged back late on.

Morecambe boss Adam Lakeland was full of praise for his side after Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Oxford City in National League North, writes DEREK QUINN.

Alfie Potter’s stoppage-time goal denied Lakeland’s players a sixth win from seven games in all competitions after they had taken the lead through Joe Garner.

Lakeland said: “I thought my team was superb. They did everything they were asked to do.

“Their organisation and discipline was tremendous and I thought they deserved to win the game.

“Bar the crossbar from Paul Lewis’ header and a good save by their goalkeeper with his feet from Matty Daly, we should have been two goals up - and deservedly so - before they scored.

“They are a very good footballing team and we restricted them to nothing in open play.

“We got a bit fortunate from a couple of set pieces before the referee gifted them a foul late on, which cost us.

“It was one of the softest free-kicks you will see in world football today and it has cost us two points.

“There’s things we could and should have done better but let’s get it right, it has come from a really poor refereeing decision.

“I feel for my players but when I think back to what we looked like at Harborough (Town, 1-0 defeat) early in the season, in similar conditions, we are a completely different beast now which shows the progress that we are making.

“I know we won at Chester but that, for me, was our best performance away from home and we deserved to win. We haven’t and that hurts.

“When you concede a goal that late, it feels like a defeat but it’s not.

“It’s another point and that is only one defeat in seven - and we have to take the many, many positives from that performance forward with us and replicate it on the road.

“If we do that we will win plenty of games.”