Morecambe boss Bentley: Things seem to be going against us

Morecambe boss Jim Bentley believes his side haven’t had their share of luck so far this season.
Jim Bentley. Picture: Matt RushtonJim Bentley. Picture: Matt Rushton
Jim Bentley. Picture: Matt Rushton

The Shrimps, who next host Notts County on Saturday, saw a three-goal lead slip at Portsmouth on Saturday as they drew 3-3.

Bentley has a mounting injury list to contend with and also lost Ryan Edwards and Kevin Ellison the day before the game as they were handed three-match bans by the FA.

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The pair became the first to be punished in the Football League on video evidence with footage showing them pulling on the dreadlocks of Wycombe’s Marcus Bean after the 1-0 defeat at the Globe Arena last Tuesday night.

The Shrimps boss said: “I’ve got to be so careful what I say.

“I’m absolutely burnt out with decisions.

“When you’ve got 100 fans (at Portsmouth on Saturday) and they’ve got 16 thousand it’s very hard to get what you want.

“I’ll leave it at that because I’m not going to get involved in other decisions that hampered us ahead of the game.

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“When you look back at games we’ve had disallowed goals that were onside and we could have had three penalties.

“I’m not being bitter, it’s not sour grapes, when you look back over the DVDs all the big and little decisions are going against us.

“It’s ridiculous but I want to concentrate on the good things we’ve done so far this season.

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“The performance against Portsmouth on Saturday certainly bodes well for the future.”

On the injury front, Bentley is simply relieved his side don’t have a game in midweek for the first time this season.

He said: “If we had a midweek game I’d probably be putting a shirt on myself.

“(Adam) Dugdale’s had his eye split open, (Shaun) Beeley probably shouldn’t have played on Saturday but soldiered on, (Jamie) Devitt ran himself into the ground, (Shaun) Miller has missed a lot of football over the last 12 months and Tom Barkhuizen has been battling a thigh injury.

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“Goody’s (Alan Goodall) gone down with a heel injury, Laurence (Wilson) has a bit of a calf and I had Kev and Ryan Edwards sat behind me and I can’t even get them on the pitch with Peter Murphy also back home.”