"They popped us off the pitch": Morecambe boss reacts to MK Dons defeat

Morecambe manager Ged Brannan felt his side gave MK Dons too much respect in the first-half especially during their 3-1 defeat at home on Saturday.

Max Dean scored the only goal of the half, but Brannan said the Shrimps effectively ignored the game plan they had been working on all week by allowing the visitors to dictate play.

While Morecambe were able to draw level through JJ McKiernan's header early in the second-half, Joe Tomlinson's fourth goal of the season restored Dons' lead with 21 minutes to go, before Dean's second in stoppage time wrapped it up for Mike Williamson's men.

"I'm very disappointed," said Brannan. "We knew exactly how they were going to play, we had a game plan for it but in the first-half, we just never done it. We never pressed, stayed off them and never stayed with the runners, so they popped us off the pitch in the first-half.

"The conditions weren't great, but they (Dons) managed to do it, and we've got just as good players as them, if not better. There were times we could pass it really well but there were a lot of sloppy passes, which is not like us.

"We had a good chat at half-time, came out and pressured them, won the ball back and scored against them to make it 1-1. We could have scored again as well, but they got the second and we dropped off them again.

"When you're playing against teams going three at the back, you've got to go and press them, and we went through it all week, but never did it today. That's really disappointing."