Morecambe manager looks to bounce back after his milestone match ends in disappointment
Morecambe look to bounce back from an afternoon to forget in National League North.
Morecambe manager Adam Lakeland says Saturday’s heavy defeat at Hednesford Town was one of the lowest moments of his managerial career, writes DEREK QUINN.
The Shrimps had made the trip in search of a fourth consecutive National League North victory but lost 6-2 instead.
The game was Lakeland’s 500th as a manager but one he could certainly not celebrate after his side’s heaviest defeat of the season.
After a week in which the Shrimps were under another National League embargo - before it was eventually lifted on Friday - Lakeland said the uncertainty around the club had made it challenging for him as a manager.
Speaking after Saturday’s game, he said: “It was my 500th game as a manager and up there with one of the worst defeats I have ever had - and it was a bad end to what has been a challenging and frustrating week.
“The noise and distraction doesn’t help and I think any manager would say that.
“You’re there to try and protect the players and the staff. You sit on the bin lid and try to keep that lid on and shield things from people but, this week, it’s been very difficult to do that.
“Whether it had an impact on the performance or the result I don’t know, but it certainly affected preparations.
“Equally though the players have got to go on the pitch and take responsibility and unfortunately on Saturday there were just too many errors and they were incredibly ruthless.”
Morecambe went into the weekend as the National League North’s in-form team and Lakeland said it was vital to put the Hednesford result behind them as soon as possible.
They can do so tonight, when Hereford visit the Halo Aerospace Stadium before Saturday’s FA Trophy trip to Leek Town.
Lakeland added: “It is important that we don’t allow the disappointing result and performance at Hednesford to set us back too far and linger around.
“We have to put in a better level of performance, we all know that.
“I can’t be too critical of the players because, going into Saturday’s game, we had been in great form with 22 points from 10 games.
“In that run we had disappointing defeats at Southport and Worksop but we still managed to find a way to win seven games in that time.
“This block of 10 games had a really disappointing start but we have to find a way to bounce back again like we have done before.”