JOHN Coleman has no wish to see former club Morecambe suffer a bout of ‘second season syndrome’, but he hopes Sammy McIlroy doesn’t discover the remedy until after tonight.

The Morecambe boss has come in for criticism from a section of supporters with the Shrimps having won only once in League Two this season.

Many would say the boo-boys are premature, particularly since it was McIlroy who built on the foundations laid by Jim Harvey to guide Morecambe into the Football League in 2007, after 11 years after Coleman’s goals elevated them to the Conference.

However, the Stanley boss is planning to prolong Morecambe’s misery for at least another 90 minutes.

“Whatever way you dress it up everyone suffers from second season syndrome,” he said.

“The Hull fans will be made up now but you watch it next year.

“Possibly Morecambe were victims of their own success last season, having such good cup runs and winning so many games. It’s always difficult to keep that momentum going, but I’m sure they’ll turn it round and climb the table quite quickly.

“They’ve got some good players, they’ve got a good fanbase and the prospect of a new ground, so I see no reason why they don’t move forward as a club.

“I have a special place in my heart for Morecambe to a certain extent but my priority now is Accrington, full stop.

“I do see how they go, and possibly out of all the clubs I played for they’re my favourite one because of how long I was there, how well I did there and how much I enjoyed it there.

“They’d be the ones that I want to see do well, apart from when they play us.”

And Coleman is hoping to recover from the disappointment of shipping a controversial late goal to Wycombe on Saturday by giving the travelling Reds plenty to shout about.

“It’s been a great atmosphere at Morecambe before, and I think that’s possibly our best away day,” said the Stanley chief.

“I think the fans really respond to it in that big covered end, and we’ve given them something to shout about the last few times we’ve been there.

“They do make a great difference to the team and the players respond to that.

“They were great on Saturday as well. There weren’t too many of them but when we hit flat spots in the game they certainly lifted us.”