Morecambe boss wants his players to stop seeing red

Derek Adams wants his Morecambe players to keep a cool head as they enter the final stretch of the League Two season.
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The Shrimps have been reduced to 10 men on four occasions during their league programme so far, with Toumani Diagouraga also dismissed during the Carabao Cup tie against Newcastle United.

Stephen Hendrie had been the only Morecambe player to see red in a league match heading into 2021 after his dismissal at Newport County AFC in December.

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However, Yann Songo’o’s red card against Tranmere Rovers at the end of January was the first of three in a dozen matches.

Nat Knight-Percival was sent off at Harrogate Town seven days agoNat Knight-Percival was sent off at Harrogate Town seven days ago
Nat Knight-Percival was sent off at Harrogate Town seven days ago
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Morecambe manager's message to his players going into the last 10 games of the s...

Sam Lavelle and Nat Knight-Percival were then dismissed in consecutive games earlier this month against Newport and Harrogate Town.

With the Shrimps one of those sides in the promotion shake-up, Adams is aware they cannot shoot themselves in the foot.

“It would be helpful if we didn’t go down to 10 men,” the manager acknowledged.

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“They have all been soft sendings off as well, even Nat’s was a soft one.

“He was falling backwards and handled the ball by accident.

“He didn’t mean to but it was a second booking by the letter of the law.”

Knight-Percival’s early bath came with 15 minutes remaining at Harrogate but the Shrimps withstood a barrage of long throws to keep a clean sheet and take away three points.

The shutout was a timely one, being the club’s first in 12 games since their victory against Exeter City in late January.

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Though happy enough to have prevented Harrogate from scoring, Adams admitted he would prefer to win matches by imposing themselves on the opposition.

He said: “That (the absence of clean sheets) doesn’t bother me, I would rather we were an attacking team.

“Yes, we’re going to concede goals but I’d rather be like the old Newcastle United team where we go and outscore the division.

“I think we’re the third or fourth highest scorers, we create a lot of good opportunities and we want to be an entertaining side.”

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