Bentley seeks away day bonus

The Shrimps travel to Meadow Lane for the second time in a week-and-a-half after torrential rain forced the abandonment of the original fixture.

County had gone into that game on the back of three consecutive victories but, since then, they have suffered back-to-back defeats.

A Checkatrade Trophy loss to Rochdale was followed by a 3-1 defeat against Mansfield Town on Saturday, as the Shrimps were losing 3-0 to Carlisle United at the Globe Arena.

“It’s another big game and it’ll be a tough match,” Bentley said.

“We always go into every game believing we can get something from it and we will prepare correctly as we always do.

“Hopefully we can take something from it. They were beaten on Saturday but they were in good form leading into the game when we played them – so maybe it’s a good time to play the game.”

Having lost five of their last six games at home in all competitions, the Shrimps will be looking to continue their excellent run of results on the road.

They will be able to welcome back Michael Rose from suspension after his booking in the original game ruled him out at the weekend.

However, Morecambe’s Checkatrade Trophy victory over Stoke City has had an unwanted impact on Bentley’s squad.

Aaron Wildig, Dean Winnard and Alex Kenyon are all unavailable with injuries they sustained, while Luke Conlan is still away with Northern Ireland’s Under-21s.

Kenyon’s absence is the lengthiest, with knee ligament damage ruling him out for up to 12 weeks.

“Wildig will probably be a couple of weeks with an ankle injury,” Bentley admitted.

“Dean has a groin injury, which is better than we first thought but Alex is the bad one.”

Kenyon’s absence against Carlisle was a costly one with Andy Fleming rushed back from injury alongside Peter Murphy in the centre of midfield.

As well as having to put Fleming back in the line-up after three weeks out, Bentley maintained Kenyon’s absence was a costly one for another reason.

“On another day we could have got our noses in front but they had a bit more experience,” he said.

“It’s little things like Alex being a vocal presence and Peter coming back from a serious injury and looking a bit tired.

“Their game management was better than ours and that will sometimes happen.

“We’ve got to adapt within the game, whether that be formation or substitutes.”