JIM’S DELIGHT AT COLE-FUELLED WIN
JIM BENTLEY could not hide his pride after his Morecambe side won at Colchester to move off the bottom of League Two.
Cole Stockton’s second-half goal gave the Shrimps victory, their first victory in 13 league and cup matches.
Bentley said: “I’m proud of them and I’m really pleased for the supporters who have come down. It was a fullydeserved victory.
“It was hard work and we put bodies on the line when we had to.
“It was a competitive game – I had a good chat with them before the game and they all knew what was expected.
“When you are bottom of the league, you’re labelled with a lot of things, you’re not trying hard enough, there’s no team spirit or you’ve lost the dressing room.
“We can’t affect what people are thinking but they’re a good group and they’ve worked extremely hard over the last couple of weeks.”
Colchester came close to scoring in the 25th minute through Frank Nouble, who latched on to a long pass and nutmegged a defender, before blasting in a shot that Roche parried for a corner at his near post.
But Morecambe also threatened with Stockton firing straight at U’s goalkeeper Dean Gerken, who made a fine save later in the first half to push Lewis Alessandra’s fierce close-range effort over for a corner.
Morecambe started the second half strongly, with Gerken making a good save from Tom Brewitt’s far-post header and then parrying away Stockton’s powerful long-range drive.
The Shrimps then took a 66th-minute lead through Stockton, who stooped to head home Alessandra’s corner from close range.
Alessandra then sliced a shot wide at the near post and although substitute Courtney Senior’s effort was saved by Roche with ten minutes remaining, Colchester pushed hard for an equaliser, but Morecambe held out.
Colchester head coach John McGreal said: “It was a really poor performance.
“It’s the worst we’ve been in possession of the ball since I took over. I just thought we played into their hands by giving the ball away with mis-placed passes and kicking it out of play. It killed the game and a set-piece won it for them, so it was disappointing.
“The boys take the plaudits when things are going well but, when it doesn’t go well, we’ve got to take the criticism.
“You have to give Morecambe credit, though – they came with a gameplan and executed it brilliantly well.
“They haven’t been performing as badly as the league table suggests – we tried to get that information across to the