Deadline day signing Adam McGurk made his Shrimps debut in the hard-fought home defeat to Lancashire rivals Accrington Stanley.
Jim Bentley snapped up the 28-year-old from Cambridge United last Thursday adding additional strike power to his squad.
The Northern Irishman announced his presence with two right-footed efforts inside the first 15 minutes and played just over an hour in his opening game for Morecambe.
The striker said his side faced a battle with key moments going not favouring the home team.
“The decisions went against us today. The red card changed everything when we went down to ten men and then there was a good shout for a penalty.”
Vadine Oliver was dismissed with just over 30 minutes remaining and McGurk had a good view of the incident.
“I was close to the tackle and, to me, it looked like just another coming together. There weren’t any studs showing. It was just a 50-50 ball that ended with a strong tackle. I didn’t see anything malicious.
“In my opinion, it was then a good call for a pen and key moments like that do change games.”
The former Tranmere, Burton and Portsmouth man said his first impressions of the club were positive.
“Despite those setbacks, everyone battled right until the end and the commitment was clear to see. That was typified when Kev (Ellison) scored right at the end and his goal gave some more justification to the scoreline. That was good to see and we can take positives into training next week.
“Even when we were down to ten men the fans were behind us with every little chance that came along. You are stretched after a red card and need to do that bit more running and positive support does help. It definitely helps you dig in and our fans supplied that today.”