Morecambe manager pleased ahead of Middlesbrough's visit

The Shrimps are due to host Middlesbrough at the Mazuma Stadium (7pm) in their penultimate warm-up game before the new League One season.

Their most recent outing was last Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Chester, during which new signing Ash Hunter netted a second goal in three appearances.

Morecambe had led at half-time, only for the hosts to level through Declan Weeks as Morecambe made eight second-half substitutions.

Speaking afterwards, Adams told the club website: “I thought that Ash Hunter and Ousmane Fane were very good in the first half, along with Dylan Connolly: they were taking the ball in and beyond.

“You could see when they came off what a miss they were in the second half, so in the end, we scored a really good goal through Hunter after he hit the post moments before.

“In the second half, it wasn’t the same. We made changes and the game just became long after that: the goal we gave away was a poor goal defensively for us.”

Chester was the last of four away matches in pre-season, coming on the back of games at Stalybridge Celtic, Macclesfield and last week’s behind-closed-doors trip to Huddersfield Town.

Once this evening’s match against Middlesbrough is out of the way, attention then turns to Saturday and the visit of Carlisle United.

That will be the Shrimps’ final outing ahead of the first match of the season against Shrewsbury Town on Saturday, July 30.

It also gives the players one last chance to get as many minutes as possible into their legs ahead of the season.

Adams added: “Playing at home will be beneficial for us. We will be playing against a good opposition in Middlesbrough first of all before another competitive fixture in Carlisle.

“They will both be competitive matches in their own right and we are looking forward to them.

“We need to get 90 minutes into a number of players. It is important for us to improve but we are putting the right steps in place for another testing season.”