Morecambe face Southend in League Two action on Tuesday night with both harbouring aspirations at opposite ends of the table

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Morecambe face Southend in League Two action on Tuesday night with both harbouring aspirations at opposite ends of the table.

The hosts go into this one off the back of a 2-1 defeat at table toppers Cambridge and will see this as a chance to restore themselves back to winning ways.

Southend are five points from safety and have only won one of their last six games in the division, but an improvement from their early season form has seen them hold a realistic prospect of survival against all odds.

Having said that, goalscorers are hard to come by in the visitors team with left-back Tom Clifford their top scorer with just three goals this campaign, evidencing the struggles in front of goal so far.

The return of Nile Ranger until the end of the season was seen as an opportunity to improve things on this front but he picked up an injury on his debut and is set to miss this one.

For Derek Adams’ side, they relied heavily on the quality of Adam Phillips in the early part of the campaign, on loan from Burnley, but his switch to Accrington saw them have to find other avenues.

They have worked well to recover from that loss with the likes of Carlos Mendes Gomes and Aaron Wildig offering the quality to make up for it.

In defence Yann Songo’o has been the key man, working well alongside former Blackburn youngster Sam Lavelle to provide a sure footing to build from going forward.

Morecambe have always been the underdogs of the division ever since their reintroduction into the football league, but a winning mentality has developed within the squad and they see this as the best opportunity yet to be promoted to the third tier of English football.

Goalkeeper Kyle Letheren and Kelvin Mellor offer the experience in the side, both knowing what it takes to gain promotion out of the league following their time at fellow Lancashire club Blackpool.

Southend have been a club with their fair share of on and off the field issues in recent times but Mark Molesley has brought a slight form of stability when things were in real danger of tailing off into non-league football.

Now whilst that is still a significant and real problem that could arise come season-end, he has recruited well after the club’s transfer embargo and at least given them a chance to survive, something that looked impossible mere months ago.

Morecambe have to be the favourites heading into this one as they seek to boost their promotion hopes, but Southend have sprung surprises when least expected throughout this campaign and the hosts will have to be on their best form to ensure that does not happen again.

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