Morecambe left rueing defensive issues against Accrington Stanley but left hopeful by Ayunga’s electric form

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Morecambe blew a two-goal lead against Accrington Stanley paying the price for failing to solve their defensive set-piece conundrum.

Jonah Ayunga had put the Shrimps 2-0 up in the first half but a failure to defend Sean McConville’s crosses into the box allowed Stanley to get back into the game.

Defending corners and free-kicks has troubled Stephen Robinson’s side all season. The Northern Irish manager gave his thoughts on the two goals his team conceded.

“The first one, the boys are claiming there’s a foul on Trevor [Carson].

“There’s a lot of bodies in there for the referee to see, but we still have to do better.

“The second one he’s not offside, we claimed that, and we have to do better than that.

“But let me tell you they’ve scored goals against better teams than us.

“Every player that goes into the box is six foot two, and we’re not the biggest or most aggressive team, so they’re going to cause teams problems on a consistent basis.

“We didn’t defend it as well as we should’ve done, otherwise we would’ve been coming away with the three points.”

With Morecambe’s position in the table a worrying 21st, the Shrimps simply cannot afford to be weak when defending set-pieces.

One main issue that Robinson pointed out is that Morecambe are not a particularly tall or physical team.

The usual full-backs, Ryan Cooney and Greg Leigh, are both under six feet whilst Burnley loanee Jacob Bedeau is not the strongest centre back which means there is a lot of pressure on Anthony O’Connor to win headers.

Morecambe secured the services of centre half Rhys Bennett in a bid to strengthen their backline, but the former Gillingham man looked shaky on his debut.

In all fairness, Bennett was not even meant to be on the bench but a late injury to Alfie McCalmont pre-match meant that the 30-year-old defender had to step in. He was thrown right into the deep end when Liam Gibson pulled up after 28 minutes.

Despite defensive set-piece issues, Ayunga is giving the Shrimps reason to be positive in the face of their relegation struggles.

The 24-year-old was a successful boxer in his youth, which led to trials for Great Britain’s youth boxing team and his performances have certainly been packing a punch recently.

A goal and an assist against Wycombe Wanderers followed by the brace against Accrington shows the former Bristol Rovers man is making the step up this season.

Built like a heavyweight boxer, the flying winger’s pace, power and surprisingly neat footwork for his size mean that he is a real handful for most defenders at League One level.

Robinson has looked to seek more simplicity from the player who received a call up from the Kenyan international team in 2016 and it is seemingly working.

The Morecambe manager wants Ayunga to shoot more instead of trying to overcomplicate his attacking play, which often saw moves break down.

There seems to be a positive connection between the Shrimps talisman, Cole Stockton, and the 24-year-old forward.

Morecambe’s top goalscorer was key in setting up both of Ayunga’s goals at the Wham Stadium.

For the first goal, Stockton initially missed a one-on-one but managed to force Michael Nottingham into a rushed clearance which fell to Ayunga, who beat Toby Savin with a deflected effort.

The second goal was pure brilliance from the Huyton-born striker as he nutmegged a Stanley midfielder and played an inch-perfect pass to Ayunga, who drove at Yeboah Amankwah and hit a rasping shot that went through Savin.

Morecambe’s attack seems to be working together with good effect and it may be that the combination of Stockton, Ayunga and Arthur Gnahoua will keep the Shrimps up this season.

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