Ellison made to wait after Newport washout

Kevin Ellison was more disappointed than most when Morecambe's game at Newport was washed out according to boss Jim Bentley.
Kevin Ellison.Kevin Ellison.
Kevin Ellison.

The suspended midfielder travelled to South Wales with the rest of the Shrimps squad as he served a one-game ban.

But the game being called off after 45 minutes, with the hosts leading 1-0 at the time, means that Ellison will have to sit out Cheltenham’s visit to the Globe Arena on Saturday.

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Alex Whitmore will also be missing as he serves the third match of his four-game ban while Cole Stockton’s knee will be assessed.

Alex Kenyon did however return to the side at Newport after two months out with Andy Fleming taking his place on the bench after injury.

“Kev travelled down with the group and is great to have around,” said Bentley.

“He came in the dressing room gutted because it just has the knock-on effect that he’ll miss another week.

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“With no Saturday game last week it can become a long time.

“What it does do is it gives Cole Stockton a little more time to recover.

“It’s just part and parcel of football and that’s the way it is.”

With both Stockton and Ellison absent, Bentley turned to the improving Rhys Turner to lead the line at Newport.

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There was an added emphasis on midfielders supporting the lone striker as the Shrimps battled against League Two’s bottom side, now managed by Graham Westley.

Despite the difficult conditions the Shrimps boss was largely impressed with what he saw.

“Without Cole Stockton and Ellison we looked at other things,” said Bentley.

“We think Aaron Wildig’s doing really well as a number 10.

“We knew the pitch was going to be poor on Saturday, we knew it was going to be a battle.

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“It was an ideal game to bring Alex Kenyon back in and we worked on how to get Michael Rose, Aaron Wildig and Peter Murphy up and beyond Rhys Turner with the safety net of Alex sitting in the middle of the park.

“We were pleased with some parts of the play.

“We got in a couple of times and so did they.

“We both tried to have a go but you could just see it was really, really hard.

“The pitch hampered both sides though and it became an all-out battle.

“There were some tasty tackles going in.”