Bentley: Good start in danger of dwindling away

The Shrimps slumped to what their manager described as their worst performance of the campaign in the 2-0 defeat to Exeter at the Globe Arena on Sunday.

Bentley’s side are still eighth in League 2 but go to Accrington on Halloween night, Friday, October 31, knowing their form has been on the slide in recent weeks.

No Shrimps fan needs reminding that it will be their 15th attempt at a first Football League victory over their Lancashire rivals with returning boss John Coleman having watched Sunday’s game.

Bentley said: “I bet he (Coleman) went home with Jimmy Bell rubbing his hands at the prospect of coming up against us on that evidence.

“But football being football it’s not always that way.

“I’ve said to the lads they need to play better than they did on Sunday. It is a game that we want to win and the fans want to win.

“We haven’t got a great record there but we’ll have to fire them up this week and have a positive week because we’re in danger of all our good work at the start of the season dwindling away.”

The Shrimps have produced their best performances on the road this season with Bentley hinting that the pressure seems to be getting to his players on home soil.

He said: “We’ve been poor in the last two home games.

“We were fantastic at Burton and Southend though and maybe it’s better to play away from home where the pressure might be off a little bit.

“On Sunday we were expecting a decent crowd and maybe one or two who don’t usually come to come.

“But the players just seemed to pass the buck to one another, lacked character, we lacked a voice and I had one or two experienced lads sat on the sidelines and hopefully they’ll be okay for next week.

“We need a little injection and we need more from them than that.”