Morecambe manager happy with pre-season display - but warns there are areas still to address

Adam Lakeland was pleased to see some of Morecambe’s training ground work pay off as they completed their away pre-season schedule with Saturday’s 2-0 win at Bury.

Teddy Collis scored twice in the first half for the Shrimps, whose home games against AFC Fylde and Barrow AFC complete their preparations for the new National League North season.

Speaking after the weekend win, Lakeland praised his players but also warned there were areas for improvement.

He said: “I thought it was a really good game for us and I hope (Jonno, Bury boss Anthony Johnson) feels the same for his team.

“We scored incredibly early, which was a goal I was pleased to see because it mirrored quite a lot of things we do consistently in terms of crossing and getting players in the right areas in the box.

“It was a really good cross by Ben (Williams), it was a really good header by Teddy and that got us up and away.

“Bury’s shape with the three centre-halves and the box in midfield was a good tactical challenge for us because we had to be incredibly disciplined and our organisation through the middle of the pitch had to be really good.

“Again, that’s something that we’ve worked quite a lot on and spoken a lot about, so I thought the players had a good shape, they were incredibly disciplined.

“Being a little bit critical, in that first hour of the game I felt that maybe - at times - decision making, execution or that first, second action after we won the ball back wasn’t quite as precise as it needed to be.

“Maybe had it been, we’d have posed more of a threat going the other way.

“Saying that, we scored a really good second goal, we had numerous other opportunities, so we had some really good moments while having some really good defensive structure and organisation.

“On the whole, it’s been a really good afternoon for us and another step in the right direction.”