Morecambe boss: Fixture list has physically 'hindered' the players

The Shrimps’ belated beginning to their National League campaign, following the club’s long-awaited takeover by Panjab Warriors, means they have played five games in two weeks.

Johal feels the lack of any pre-season training is now beginning to hit his side hard, with the muscle injuries picked up by Gwion Edwards and Yann Songo’o at Boreham Wood on Saturday a direct consequence of the current workload.

They now have a free midweek for the first time this season ahead of Saturday’s trip to Solihull Moors.

The manager said: “We haven’t had any pre-season, so the players aren’t conditioned to play 90 minutes of a game at this intensity and at this level at the moment.

“The league hasn’t helped us with the fixture scheduling and there has been no consideration taken for the health and safety of the players.

“To ask them to play five games in two weeks is incredible and unprecedented – and the two injuries on Saturday were a direct contribution of the congestion we have had in our schedule.

“The amount of games we have had has hindered the players physically.

“They give their all but they are not fully recovered before playing the next game, where they then accumulate fatigue and loading of their muscles and we saw at Boreham Wood what that results in.

“We want the fitness levels and the intensity we play at to improve, but that takes time and I know it will come soon.

“We now have a full week of training ahead of the Solihull game which we are all looking forward to.

“There are a lot of things we need to work on, especially defensively, and it’s down to us now to look to build a 90-minute performance where the players perform how we want them to perform.

“We couldn’t ask for any more from them though. A few weeks ago they were training in gyms and running round parks, and they joined us at the last minute, so to go from no training to performing at this level in five games is incredible.”