O’Sullivan nets point, but Adams is deflated

MORECAMBE manager Derek Adams was left frustrated after his side were held at home by Carlisle.

Hallam Hope struck just after the break for the visitors, but John O’Sullivan levelled three minutes later for the Shrimps, who failed to find a winner.

After his first league game in charge of Morecambe at the Globe Arena, he said: “I thought we played very well and had by far the best opportunities in the game.

“We were unfortunate to go a goal down when we did, but we responded well and we got a goal back quite quickly to get back into it and I thought we looked the more likely to score from then.

“We passed the ball a lot better and looked a lot sharper. We have been looking to be more forceful and get the ball into dangerous positions and we did that today.

“We would have liked to have won the game obviously but we dealt well with the threat Carlisle posed us and another point is a point in the right direction.’’

Both goals came in a four-minute spell after the break with the Cumbrians taking the lead after 46 minutes via Hope.

A long clearance caught out the hosts’ defender Ritchie Sutton, who failed to see the threat of

Hope and the striker slotted the ball past Mark Halstead.

The Shrimps hit back almost immediately. Aaron Wildig slashed at a chance in the box, but it fell perfectly for O’Sullivan who headed past Adam Collin.

Both sides looked to win the game with O’Sullivan seeing a goal-bound shot blocked by Wildig who couldn’t get out of the way.

Carlisle were then denied what looked a clear injury-time penalty when Luke Conlan brought down Gethin Jones in the box only for referee Darren Handley to wave the appeals away.

After a 2-2 FA Cup draw at Forest Green last week in his first match, Carlisle head coach Chris Beech was overseeing his first league game and said: “I was really pleased with the structure of the team and the fact we scored another great goal but we conceded straight after scoring again which was another blow.

“Overall I thought it was a decent performance, but we have got to get away from making the silly mistakes so we can celebrate a win.”