Cowley hails Shackell after Lincoln ease past Morecambe
Posted Sunday, December 16, 2018 by PA
Lincoln boss Danny Cowley revealed Jason Shackell had been lobbying him to take free-kicks after the defender’s stunning strike in the 3-1 victory over Morecambe.
The Imps climbed back to the top of League Two thanks to Harry Anderson’s seventh-minute goal, John Akinde’s penalty on 33 minutes and Shackell’s stupendous set-piece four minutes later.
Morecambe could not recover from that first-half mauling, although they did pull a goal back through Kevin Ellison with 10 minutes left.
The highlight of the game was Shackell’s fourth goal for the club since joining on transfer deadline day in August.
The 35-year-old was also his manager’s man of the match for a commanding display amid abysmal conditions.
Cowley said: “He’s been on at me to take them for a long while. You don’t play over 50 Premier League games and spend most of your career in the Championship without having top-end quality.
“He’s got a lovely left foot and he was the standout man of the match.
“The way he organised the defence and distributed possession from the back was immaculate in very testing conditions.”
When asked if Shackell is now the Imps’ chief free-kick taker, Cowley said: “You’ll do well to get them off him now! It was an important free-kick at an important moment.
“To get 3-0 up before half-time was important because we knew it was going to be difficult in the second half, playing into a brick wall of a wind.
“You only have to look at the results in other games, with one team dominating in the first half and the other team coming back in the second.”
Another crucial moment of the game was Akinde’s penalty, given after Shay McCartan went down in the box.
While Morecambe boss Jim Bentley conceded the best team won, he did not agree with the award of the spot-kick.
He said: “We knew it would be a tough game. We know what Lincoln are all about. They’ve invested [financially], there’s an 8,000 crowd, they’ve got momentum, they’ve got confidence after a good couple of seasons and they’ve got the FA Cup game [against Everton] to come.
“Everything is going well for them and fair play to them, but we came here in good spirit and with confidence.
“There were certain aspects that we were happy with, but we let ourselves down again.
“The critical goal is the second one. I’d have to see it again, but at the time it looked shoulder to shoulder.
“Hand on heart, I didn’t think it was a penalty. I thought it was a dive and I think the referee was going to go over and book him [McCartan].”
Even Cowley admitted the penalty was harsh, saying: “Shay has such a low centre of gravity and is difficult to stop, but it looked soft.”
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