Morecambe 2 Macclesfield Town 0: Derek Adams delighted as the Shrimps take three more points

Morecambe manager Derek Adams admitted their win against Macclesfield Town was crucial for a few reasons.

The Shrimps made it one defeat in 10 home matches with a 2-0 win at a blustery Globe Arena in midweek.

First-half goals from Toumani Diagouraga and Aaron Wildig secured the three points which saw them leapfrog Macclesfield in the League Two table.

Victory also saw them open up an eight-point gap on bottom side Stevenage and close to within two points of fourth-bottom Mansfield.

“It was a big win for us,” Adams said afterwards.

“There were a lot of games in and around us, teams we could potentially catch.

“We’ve gone above Macclesfield and closed the gap to the teams above us.

“To win at home, score two good goals and keep a clean sheet was vital.

“We’re trying to catch as many teams as we possibly can.

“We’ve picked up points at home and now we have to turn these performances at home into points on the road.”

The strong winds meant fluent, passing football was always going to be difficult to achieve.

The team with the wind at their backs saw their passes caught by the breeze and fail to find their targets.

In contrast, the side with the wind in their faces struggled to send their clearances over the halfway line.

“We started the game very well, on the front foot, and we got the two goals,” Adams said.

“It was a good goal from Toums, a good one from Aaron Wildig, and we could have scored more.

“We dealt well with the conditions in both halves but the second half wasn’t easy, we had to defend very well and we did that – we limited them to very few opportunities on goal.

“It was good to keep a clean sheet, we played a higher line than Macclesfield perhaps did. They defended deeper which allowed us to squeeze up the park.

“We’ve still got a long way to go, we’ve got to continue working hard, but we’ve put ourselves in a much better position going into two away games at Grimsby and Carlisle.”