Morecambe boss Bentley “gutted” by stoppage time Capital One Cup exit

Neil Collins rose above a static Shrimps defence to head home in the 92nd minute and send Sheffield United into round two.

The Shrimps boss, who saw his side create numerous chances without reward as they had done in the opening day defeat at Hartlepool, said: “It’s hard to take.

“We want to do well in every game and this is a competition we want to do well in.

“We’ve rode our luck at times against a good side but we’ve asked plenty of questions as well.

“We’ve had chances but we’ve been done by a set play, someone’s assigned to pick the player up and hasn’t got tight enough and all your hard work over 92 or 93 minutes.

“I was just hoping to take it to extra-time and get a goal to get into the next round.

“But I’m proud of the lads tonight. They’ve given in their all.

“It just wasn’t be and I’m absolutely gutted to be honest.”

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Not only was the result difficult to take for The Shrimps but they also saw Aaron Wildig hobble off on the same day it was confirmed captain Peter Murphy would miss three months after damaging medial knee ligaments at Hartlepool.

Bentley said: “Aaron been’s brilliant since he came here and I thought he was our best player in pre-season.

“He’s a big player for us but I just can’t believe our luck at the moment.

“It’s like buying a new car and it looking good and being made up with it and then you want to go and pick your mates up in it and the tyre falls off or something like that.

“I think the steering wheel has come off as well.

“Hopefully Wldig isn’t too bad and we’ll be back fit for the weekend.”

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