Recap

No doubt about the better side in this hastily arranged friendly but Reds’ insistence in pressing the self-destruct button emphasised the gap between the teams.

They were punished time and again for basic errors with Morecambe gifted no fewer than four goals.

And the first of those opened the scoring with just five minutes on the clock.  Mackenzie Fleming rolled the ball back to Brodie Richardson but the ‘keeper had already advanced off his line and the upshot was an unfortunate own-goal.

Reds did recover and actually levelled the scores eight minutes later.  Niall Siddaway latched on to a measured through ball, rounded the ‘keeper and netted a well taken goal from an acute angle.

But that was as good as it got and four goals in a fifteen minute spell saw the hosts 5-1 ahead at the break.

To their credit, Reds were much better in the second half and certainly far more competitive.

They couldn’t add to their first half goal but Josh Palmer and Dan Whitehead tested the Morecambe ‘keeper with decent efforts from the edge of the area.

Then a clever lob over Richardson resulted in Morecambe’s sixth and probably best goal of the night and Reds conceded two more sloppy goals before the finish. 

Development Squad: Brodie Richardson, Lewis Fabi, Ellis Riley, Harvey Forster, Mackenzie Fleming, Louis Webster, Jack Burns, Elliot Lowrie, Dan Whitehead, Ciaran Booty, Niall Siddaway.  Substitutes – Harry Potts, Alex Cairns, Taylor Cullen, Ryan Cook, Josh Palmer