Morecambe boss content to stay in the shadows

The Shrimps maintained their recent run of decent results with four points from two away games against Tranmere Rovers and AFC Wimbledon in the last week.

Last Saturday’s draw at AFC Wimbledon moved Brannan’s players into 10th place, one point off the top seven with 15 games to go.

It also made it one defeat in eight league games so far in 2024 for a Shrimps team boasting plenty of new faces following a busy January transfer window.

Brannan said: “Morale is really high at the moment but there is a long way to go and a lot of points to play for.

“We have to settle down and prepare as well as we can for each game and play to our strengths.

“We are developing an identity now. We are a bit more possession-based now and we try to pass the ball quickly and take the ball off the opposition further up the pitch.

“We have had to change things with losing the players we did last month but we brought in players who we thought would suit the style of play we wanted.

“The lads that hadn’t had too many opportunities have really stepped up and shown us what they can do too.

“When we lost a goalscorer like Michael Mellon, we knew we needed the players to step up and they have done that.

“The goals are being shared about and are coming from all over the pitch – and we have to keep that going and hopefully add more goals from set pieces too.

“It’s all very tight and we are still in the pack and picking up points but I’m not thinking too far ahead at the moment.

“We are just going to take every game as it comes and see where that gets us.”

The first of Morecambe’s 15 remaining matches is tonight’s game at Walsall (7.45pm), where both clubs hope it will be third time lucky.

January’s original meeting was postponed because the two teams were on FA Cup third round duty, while the rescheduled game a fortnight ago fell victim to a waterlogged pitch.