Jim Bentley reflects on the past week to this weekend’s home game against Hartlepool United
The gaffer was thrilled with his team’s performance in Saturday’s 3-2 away win over Luton Town, a game that saw The Shrimps’ record an invaluable victory despite having a man sent off: “We started great and we were excellent first half. We were well worthy of the two goal lead. We were very threatening and played some good stuff. When they got it back to 2-2 and Ryan Edwards was sent off I was praying for the final whistle and would happily have taken a point, but to get a winner so late on was a fantastic feeling.
“The trip home was excellent, a real feel-good factor and the coach was buzzing. We watched Beels and Hughesy’s goal celebrations on the DVD over and over as they were really funny.
“I gave the lads a few days off, it’s been a tough schedule of late with games Saturday and Tuesday for the last couple of weeks so the lads have had a few days off which have been well deserved. All the squad members went out for a meal together in Liverpool on Sunday and spirits are high. It’s a good time to give the lads a bit of a break, it was already planned but to have it after such a high is great because they can enjoy it.”
Jim was also pleased with this week’s reserve team game which saw a victory over Walsall and progress being made by some of the club’s academy players: “The reserves won 2-0 away at Walsall on Tuesday with goals from Alex Kenyon and Josh Bowden who plays under Ian Jones at the college. It’s great for the young lads coming through to get on the scoresheet and show progression through the ranks.”
This weekend’s game sees The Shrimps’ take on struggling Hartlepool United who are rooted to the foot of the table, the game also falls on a Prostate Cancer awareness day, a cause which the manager and the rest of the club are firmly behind: “The players are all looking sharp and fresh in training and we’re all looking forward to Saturday’s game.
“We’ve done great away from home recently but we really need to improve our home form and give our fans at home something to cheer about. The Hartlepool match is also a Prostate Cancer UK awareness day, it’s great to be involved in and to promote awareness for a very worthwhile cause that affects a lot of families.”
Jim admits that he has been left frustrated whilst trying to add to his squad with the loan window drawing to a close: “We’ve been left a little frustrated as I’m always looking to add to the squad. We’ve made a few enquiries but unfortunately we’ve not been able to bring anyone into the group. That being said we do still have a couple of weeks before the loan window closes so maybe there’s still time to freshen things up.”