Morecambe boss Jim Bentley ready for Mansfield Town double header

It was a frustrating afternoon for Morecambe striker Shaun Miller as they lost against Grimsby Town last weekend

The Shrimps travel to Field Mill twice in four days with Saturday’s league game then followed by Tuesday’s League Cup tie against the Stags.

Bentley’s players make the trip, looking to atone for their loss against Grimsby Town at the Globe Arena last Saturday.

A disappointing performance saw the Shrimps beaten 2-0 in a game where they only forced the opposing keeper into one relatively routine save, despite playing almost 100 minutes of football given a lengthy period of second-half stoppage time.

Ironically, having switched pre-season friendlies against Everton’s youngsters and Accrington Stanley to ensure their pitch was in perfect condition, Bentley believed the playing surface did not help his team.

He said: “Two of our best pre-season performances were Everton away and Accrington – short pitches with some zip. I don’t think we got our passing game going against  Grimsby.

“Whether it was because of that, I don’t know – it plays into the hands of direct teams.

“We’ve proven in pre-season that we have technically gifted players and I don’t think that the pitch helped us – it looked long.

“I don’t want to use that as an excuse. I’ll take responsibility and I picked the team.

“We didn’t get going as much as we could. We’ve proven in pre-season we can play good football.

“There are three games in the next week, so there is plenty of football to come.

“There were some good performances from players getting up to speed, which is a positive.”