Goalkeeper Trevor Carson has praised manager Derek Adams for the way he has approached the final game of the 2021/22 Sky Bet League One campaign.
The Shrimps face Sunderland AFC on Saturday, looking to ensure their survival in League One for another season, and Carson says the gaffer has taken the pressure off the lads in the lead up to the game.
“We are well aware of how big the game is on Saturday, I think you have to give the manager a lot of credit in terms of how he has managed us going into this game,” he said.
“It has been like any other week, you wouldn’t think that we have a game of the magnitude that we have on Saturday and for me that is a masterstroke from him.
“He has kept things how they have been, there is no pressure on the lads from him, we know it is going to be a big game.
“There will be a lot of checking the scores from other games, but we know what we have to do and we have put all of our concentration into that.”
Carson was part of the Hartlepool United side that were relegated from the EFL back in 2017, and the Northern Irishman says he does not want that feeling again.
“These kind of game are the ones you are in football for, my first game was Spurs away, those kind of games are the ones where you look back at all the sacrifices you made as a kid,” he added.
“Of course there is going to be an edge to it, I have had something similar to this when I was at Hartlepool, we played Doncaster [Rovers] in the last game of season, they had already won promotion and needed to win to win the league.
“We hadn’t won in 12 games at that point but somehow managed to put a result together, we won 2-1 but Newport [County] ended up scoring in the 93rd minute to relegate us.
“So I have been on the wrong side of it, I couldn’t do anything about that then, but if we do our job, it is job done, and it is a great incentive for the lads.”