The Shrimp Season

IN a turbulent campaign for Morecambe, the Shrimps said farewell to the longest-serving manager in the Football League and welcomed a familiar face to the Green Army.

Jim Bentley was in his ninth year at the Morecambe helm at the start of a tough season at the Globe Arena, as they went down to a 2-0 loss at home to Grimsby on the opening day.

Draws with Cheltenham and Mansfield brought some stability, plus a penalty shoot-out win in the Carabao Cup, also against Mansfield. A solitary goal from Richard Sutton then gave Morecambe their first league win of the season at Macclesfield.

Unfortunately, two months would pass before they tasted victory again. Burton and Blackpool inflicted heavy losses in the Carabao Cup and Leasing.com Trophy respectively, while 2-2 draws with Salford and Northampton were the only moments of slight respite in a losing league run.

Cole Stockton finally broke the sequence with the winner at Colchester but further defeats to Forest Green and Stevenage ended the Bentley era, as he moved on to the manager’s job at AFC Fylde.

Morecambe turned to former Pilgrim boss Derek Adams and, while he suffered a tough 5-0 defeat at Crewe a few weeks ago, the Shrimps showed some real fight in earning a 1-1 draw with Carlisle last weekend and will be scrapping hard to pull away from the bottom of the table when they visit Home Park tomorrow.