Weekend defeat left Morecambe propping up the National League North table.

Morecambe manager Adam Lakeland said his players need to show a lot more character after they suffered a third defeat in four games and fell to the bottom of the National League North table, writes DEREK QUINN.

Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at a Radcliffe side that had lost all three games they had played this season left the Shrimps with just one point from four games.

After a goalless first half, two goals in nine minutes from Rio Clegg and Joe Pritchard put the hosts 2-0 up.

Although Joe Garner pulled one back, it was too little too late for the Shrimps with Lakeland demanding a swift response from his squad.

He said: “It was a bad day for us and, unfortunately, we have had too many of them.

“I felt we generally had a lot of control in the first half but we were too safe in our play, not playing with enough tempo or urgency.

“We were playing a little bit with the handbrake on, which I have no idea why, and we have this knack of only being a bit more aggressive when we fall behind - and that needs to change.

“The second half began with us conceding one of the worst goals I think I’ve ever seen and to give a team who have been struggling like us a gimme like that gave them something to protect.

“We found ourselves disjointed and all over the place again and they made it 2-0 with a goal that was too easy.

“We got it back to 2-1 but did we show a bit of fight from there? Not enough for me.

“We reduced the deficit but we need to do far better than that.”