SICK JIM GIVEN PERFECT REMEDY

THE Eric Morecambe Trophy will now take pride of place at the Globe Arena, but the Shrimps’ assistant manager Ken McKenna says his side’s win over Luton was for unwell boss Jim Bentley.

Bentley missed the match through illness, leaving McKenna in charge.

But goals from Kevin Ellison, Mark Hughes and Padraig Amond will undoubtedly have raised his spirits.

The home side are also the inaugural holders of The Eric Morecambe Trophy – a prize created to celebrate the restoration of a statue of the star in Morecambe.

The television star took his stage name from the Lancashire town, the place of his birth, while Luton were his favourite football team.

But McKenna admitted he was more concerned with the three points – and spurring Bentley into a swift return.

“It’s one of the best wins of the season but it’s difficult to compare it to other games because of the circumstances,” said McKenna.

“We started the game really well and wanted to put their back four under pressure which we did.

“We got the early goal from a good set piece which gave us a little bit of confidence

“There’s been a bit of a bug flying round with everyone.

“The boss was up all night, his kids have been poorly this week and he’s picked something up.

“He was in a bad way this morning but I hope that’s cheered him up.

“I spend more time with Jim than anyone else. We’re up and down that motorway and we’re in here every day and we work late. I missed him and I’ll be glad when he’s back.”

There was just 17 minutes on the clock when Jamie Devitt’s cross found Alex Kenyon who nodded the ball to Ellison, allowing the winger to finish.

Luton defender Steve McNulty was then sent off for two bookable offences before Hughes headed home a corner from Shaun Beeley to double the hosts’ advantage.

Ellison almost grabbed himself a second goal of the game, only to be denied by a fine stop from Hatters keeper Mark Tyler.

Amond then wrapped things up from six yards late on to lift the home side to tenth – within striking distance of the playoffs.

The loss sees Luton drop out of the automatic promotion places.

And Hatters manager John Still was left to rue his side’s defensive errors, even if he was refusing to hit the panic just yet.

“Whatever we spoke about before the game, however we planned it out, people weren't up for doing that in the game,” said Still.

“We have defended magnificently this year, but we've had a poor day.

“We’re going to get beat, we all get beat – I'm not worried about

that. “It's about how you get beat and here we got beat because we were too poor defensively.”