Grimsby boss Michael Jolley feeling the pressure after Morecambe defeat

Grimsby manager Michael Jolley conceded that his position is “vulnerable” after suffering a sixth successive league defeat to Morecambe.

The Shrimps ran out 2-1 winners in the Sky Bet League Two clash, with Rhys Oates and Liam Mandeville scoring in the second half after Elliot Embleton had given the hosts an early lead at Blundell Park.

The result sees Grimsby drop into the relegation zone while Morecambe pulled four points clear of the bottom two with their third win of the season.

Fans made their feelings clear upon the full-time whistle in Cleethorpes, and for Jolley there was no hiding away from the situation.

“I’m not naive about it. I think I’m realistic enough to know that any manager who’s in that position is vulnerable by definition,” Jolley said.

“I’ve got an ongoing dialogue with the board and I’m fully respectful of their position and they are of mine at this stage.

“What we have to do is fundamentally understand why we’re on this run.

“If I’m the problem, then action needs to be taken. If the players are the problem, then action needs to be taken. We need to understand what the issue is and then address it appropriately.”

On the game, Jolley added: “We’re on this run of consecutive defeats and I think we’ve played better in other games.

“I thought we were fortunate to go in 1-0 up at half-time, I thought Morecambe were the better team in the first half.

“In the second half we conceded two really poor goals and we had an injury which disrupted us, so that didn’t help. We’re desperately disappointed to lose.”

Morecambe boss Jim Bentley was full of pride for his team as they followed up last week’s success against Macclesfield with another victory to relieve some pressure at the wrong end of the table.

“I think we deserved it,” Bentley said.

“We started brightly and Ajay (Leitch-Smith) has had a fabulous chance one-on-one with the keeper, and you’re expecting the net to burst but he maybe had too much time.

“Their first shot on target went in so we’re disappointed with how we defended it, but after that I thought we played some fantastic stuff.

“We spoke about being focused and determined. We had a little bit of luck but luck plays a big part in football, and the harder you work the luckier you are.

“They were fantastic goals from the two wide lads. We were really positive and I thought our game management was good with the way we controlled the tempo and affected the crowd.

“I’m really pleased for everyone. The fans who travelled over played a big part, it was a great occasion and we had to back up Macclesfield and we did.”