Returning Devitt’s a pain for Shrimps
MORECAMBE picked up their 17th draw of the season to help their survival hopes and put a dent in Carlisle’s play off ambitions.
In an entertaining game the result suited the Shrimps more than the Cumbrians who are now five points off the play spots with three games to go.
Despite the draw Carlisle boss Keith Curle failed to rule his side out of extending their season, saying: “We want to end the season on a high and there is no lack of effort, spirit and commitment and we will keep that going for the final few games of the season.
“We seem to have lost that ability to force a goal at the moment. We lacked the fundamentals in certain areas of our play where we need to build up our play and needed to be more creative in and around their goal.
“Some of our play was good but some of our football let us down in key areas.”
Morecambe boss Jim Bentley was the happier of the two bosses but said there was still more to do this season.
He said: “It is a point that takes us a step closer to safety but we are not there yet.
“We still have a lot to play for yet and we are taking nothing for granted but it was an important point for us.
“It was a really good game and we showed a lot of spirit to get back into it after going behind.
“We started well but were then undone by a great Jamie Devitt free kick and had to show a lot of spirit to get back into the game.
“We kept plugging away and got our just rewards with an excellent Callum Lang goal and from then it could have gone either way.”
Former Morecambe player Jamie Devitt gave Carlisle the lead with a superb 15th minute free kick that the curled into the top left hand corner of Barry Roche’s goal.
Morecambe levelled on the half hour when Adam McGurk swung in a cross from the right wing and Callum Lang nipped in between two Carlisle defenders to head home his tenth goal of the season.
Mike Jones looked Carlisle’s biggest threat after the break lashing a shot over and seeing an effort was deflected inches wide by Ashley Nadesan.
The visitors also had claim for a penalty when Roche bundled Nadesan over in the box before Devitt was booked for diving as he looked for a cheeky spot kick.
Morecambe almost snatched victory at the death when Lang forced Bonham into a decent save.