Need to be stronger says Jim
Morecambe boss Jim Bentley said his side need to tighten up on their set piece defending after Saturday's draw at Torquay.
The Shrimps had to give their all to come from behind after Aaron Downes scored from a corner on 16 minutes. It was the third goal they had conceded from a set piece in recent weeks and Bentley admitted his side needed to be stronger.
With Ryan Jarvis's winning goal at York very much on his mind, Bentley said: “I thought I was going to be saying the same things I did after the York defeat because we gave a struggling side a goal to cling onto.
“But we rode our luck and then when you need something special you don’t really expect it from your left full back but Robbie Threlfall's got into a decent position and smashed one right in the top corner.
“It was a great goal for us. Whether we did or didn’t deserve a point I don’t know but with the desire and determination we’ve shown with four hard games in the last 10 days I think you take that.
“It’s great for the fans that have travelled down, it’s stopped a little sequence after losing the last two, so we take a point and move on.”
Bentley admitted that the Gulls sacking boss Alan Knill two days before the game changed the context of the match, with head of youth Geoff Harrop in charge at Plainmoor.
The Shrimps boss said: “Having lost their manager in difficult circumstances and with a couple of players coming back in you could just sense that they were really up for it, so we knew it was going to be a difficult afternoon.
“On paper it’s a strong Torquay side but they’ve had a difficult start to the season and find themselves in the bottom two so it was always going to be tough.”
Whilst Bentley praised Downes’ desire to win the ball as he gave the hosts the lead the Morecambe manager remained frustrated by his side’s defending from set pieces.
He said: “Sometimes you’ve got to take your hat off and I said to big Aaron Downes, who I’ve had plenty of battles with over the years, that I would have been proud of that myself.
“That’s what we need to do, he hunts the ball down and shows great desire to score goals when he goes up. It was a decent enough ball and he attacked it well.
“It’s down to individual error when we’re getting beaten like that and it’s been our Achilles heel in the last couple of games.
“All the goals we’ve conceded in the last three games have been from set plays so we need to tighten up on that.”