David Artell says the majority of his players were a shadow of themselves at Morecambe at the weekend. After leading through James Jones’ first half strike, the Alex found themselves 2-1 behind heading into injury time before Chris Porter was fouled inside the penalty area deep into stoppage time and he dusted himself off to dispatch the spot kick and salvage a point.

Artell said afterwards that for him ‘it was one of the worst performances of the season’ and the majority of the players didn’t do themselves justice at the Globe Arena.

Following the 2-2 draw with the Shrimps, the gaffer said: “It wasn’t good enough from us and when you score in the last minute to get a point away from home then you are a relieved man.

“We didn’t match their tenacity, especially in the second half and with them not doing loads they were in the right places and putting the balls into right areas. Our decision making was poor on the football.

“It wasn’t us and that cannot be the standard.

“Chris (Porter) has been terrific for us of late and it is four goals in four games for him. We were thankful to him again at the end and he was the one player who came out with any credit, if you like.

“The centre-halves battled admirably and did their jobs but there were not many more after that. They were a shadow of the standard they have set themselves.”