Jim Bentley ‘relieved’ after late offside decision goes Morecambe’s way

Posted Sunday, November 11, 2018 by PA

Morecambe boss Jim Bentley said his side could easily have been knocked out of the FA Cup after FC Halifax had a last-gasp goal disallowed for offside in their goalless draw.

The Vanarama National League outfit thought they had won the game at the death when substitute Jonathan Edwards headed in a Ryan Sellers cross, only to see his celebrations cut short by the linesman’s flag.

Bentley said: “It was certainly a tight decision and it could have gone either way.

“I don’t think we would have deserved to lose the game but it was that tight that I’m relieved the decision went our way because we could very easily be out of the cup.

“Looking at the game I didn’t really enjoy it because I think we spent most of it waiting for something to happen. Overall we had a lot of chances and a lot of good openings but didn’t always make the right decision and the longer the game went on, the more chances they had.

“If we had taken one of our chances it could have been different but even though we hit the bar and had one cleared off the line I don’t know if we really did enough to win it.

“At the end of the day, though, I said to the lads that we had to be in the hat for the second round at the end of the 90 minutes and we achieved that which is the most important thing.”

Halifax manager Jamie Fullarton said of the offside decision: “I haven’t had a chance to see it back and although it must have been tight because there wasn’t much traffic in the box I just have to accept that it was offside and we go again.

“It was a fantastic performance from the lads against a very experienced League Two side and I can’t praise them enough for their performance.

“If I was being super critical there were areas for improvement but the attitude and commitment of every single player was superb.

“We defended as if our lives depended on it and put our bodies on the line and as the game went on we had more chances going forward where with a bit more quality we could have caused them more problems.

“We are in the hat for the draw and have a replay on our home ground which gives us the chance to progress and we have to be happy with that.”