Bentley in rallying cry to sad Shrimps...

JIM BENTLEY promised his Morecambe side will fight for their lives after being sent to the bottom of the table by Bradford.

Second-half goals from Hope Akpan and Aramide Oteh saw the Bantams overcome their battling hosts, who added a late reply from Tom Brewitt, but it was too little, too late.

Bentley said: “It is only the second time we have been bottom since I have been here and it is hard to take.

“It’s not nice, but we will stick together and do all we can to fight our way back up the table.

“We made a couple of mistakes, while we created a host of chances and only took one of them and that is killing us.

“Their best chances came when our attacks broke down and that is what happened early in the second half when we got caught out.

“That lifted them and although we responded well we let them in again by giving away a really poor second goal that could have been avoided.”

After an even first half, Bradford took the lead two minutes after the break through Akpan after a swift counter-attack. Adam Buxton lost possession on the edge of the Bantams area and Dylan Connolly took full advantage with a run deep into the Morecambe half and a cross for Akpan to slide the ball past John O’Sullivan.

The visitors added a second against the run of play, 11 minutes from time when they took advantage of a poor header from Steven Old as Harry Pritchard found Oteh down the left and he squeezed the ball into the bottom corner. The home side then dominated, with sub Kevin Ellison heading against the bar and Bradford clearing an effort off the line, before Aaron Wildig and Ellison both shot tamely at Richard O’Donnell.

The hosts scored a deserved consolation three minutes into injury time when Brewitt smashed home a loose ball from close range.

Happy Bantams boss Gary Bowyer said: “The players are beginning to get a winning culture and I think you saw that.

“It was a bit of a cagey game. People wrote the headlines in midweek about this being a banana skin, but I knew it would be tough.

“But we got two goals ahead and should really have killed the game off.”