Morecambe manager saw some reasons to be cheerful in defeat to Everton's U21s

Sean McAllister’s second-half goal gave the Toffees a 1-0 win in their Papa John’s Trophy group stage outing at the Mazuma Stadium.

It was a night when the Shrimps had much the better possession but lacked the cutting edge required to break down their visitors.

Robinson made nine changes to the side which started against AFC Wimbledon at the weekend with Liam Gibson and Aaron Wildig keeping their places.

A lot of the players that figured were either recent arrivals, looking to make an impression, or players on the way back from injury in need of game time.

Of the new arrivals, Scott Wootton and Jacob Mensah performed well in the centre of defence.

Ahead of them, wide men Wes McDonald and Josh McPake were Morecambe’s principal attacking threats as both looked to stake a claim for a starting role at Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.

“Wes was excellent on Saturday when he came on,” Robinson said.

“That’s the best Josh has been for a long time, he caused problems.

“We are very limited in forward areas but the two of them gave us options.

“The positives are the two wide men and I thought Scott and Jacob did well.

“Gibbo and Aaron are first-team players who haven’t played a lot of minutes so now it’s about finding form and continuing with it.”

The majority of possession belonged to Robinson’s players but they were unable to convert that into goals.

McPake, McDonald and Freddie Price were all off target in the opening half, as was Arthur Gnahoua in stoppage time.

The closest they came was when Alfie McCalmont forced the keeper into a save moments after McAllister’s goal.

Robinson said: “We worked on people getting into areas to go and score goals.

“The delivery from Alfie from set pieces was brilliant but no-one attacked the ball.

“We need to move the ball quicker, we need to play forward more often but sometimes, when you play and have so much possession, that happens.”

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