Alexander: Tough lesson learnt

Graham Alexander insists Fleetwood have learned a big lesson after they were dumped out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at home to Morecambe.

Having taken an early lead through Gareth Evans' strike, it looked like the home side would cruise. But the Shrimps have made a flying start to to the League Two season and hit back with goals from Padraig Amond (2) and Jack Redshaw to seal a 3-1 win. Alexander said: "We started really well, we got our noses in front and then we just seemed to take our foot off the pedal. We've done that and allowed Morecambe to score two goals before half-time. "We went with the (three at the back) system partly because of the personnel. We wanted to look at something different. "We probably had three or four different formations last season. This was the first time we've changed it this time around. "Were any of the goals down to the formation? I don't think so. But if they were I'll take responsibilty, I'll take it on the chin. "We just stopped doing the things that were getting us success. It's a little lesson for us. "We'll take it on board, we've already spoken about it. We have to play our way and stick to it. "We came off it for a 10 to 15-minute spell and in that time Morecambe managed to score." In contrast, Jim Bentley was left glowing with pride at his side's comeback He said: "It was a great result. They're going well in their league, we're going well in ours. They've got a very good squad and I fancy them to do well this season. I hope they do. "Coming into the game we had a couple of lads who were running on empty and we had a suspension to contend with. We took a couple of knocks in the game but we showed b***s. "We went 1-0 down to a well-worked goal and you're thinking it's going to be a good test and it proved to be just that. "But we dug in. For me, we should have had a penalty and if it is a penalty the goalkeeper should have been sent off but for some reason little Jack gets booked for diving. "Thankfully we're not stood here talking about that because that was a key moment that didn't go our way. "We scored a couple of really good goals and came in at half-time in the lead and we were talking about being very strong, limiting the opposition to very little and hitting them on the break and we did just that. "I'm very, very pleased with the discipline, the work-rate and the shape of the team. Every sub that went on put a shift in and it's a fantastic result for us."