Morecambe manager Ged Brannan admitted he had mixed feelings after on-loan Burnley striker Michael Mellon netted twice in the 5-0 demolition of Doncaster.
The 20-year-old moved to 13 goals in League Two for the season with his brace in Brannan’s first win in charge of the Shrimps.
While delighted with the overall performance, he fears Mellon’s hot streak in front of goal may count against Morecambe as they seek to keep the youngster until the end of the season.
“It’s tremendous – but it’s not!” he said. “The more goals he scores, the less chance there is of us keeping him in January.
“I want him to go on and do really well, I really do. It’d hurt us if we lost him but that’s football.
“He deserves everything he gets. He’s a top player and getting to 13 already is just fantastic. If you give him the ball around the area, it’s a goal.”
Alongside Mellon’s two strikes, goals from Eli King, captain Jacob Bedeau and David Tutonda saw Morecambe cruise to the win.
On the performance, which ended a five-game winless run for Morecambe, Brannan was delighted.
“I was just made up with the way the lads played and I’m just delighted we kept the clean sheet as well,” he said. “I just said to the lads, let’s pass the ball and the passing was unbelievable.
“Everyone looked comfortable on the ball, they all wanted it. It was just an all-round top performance.”
Grant McCann cancelled the usual Sunday off for his Doncaster side as he embarked on an inquest into the heavy defeat.
McCann had little to say to his players in the immediate aftermath of a loss he labelled ‘unacceptable’ and called them into training to analyse the issues behind the poor performance.
“It’s a difficult one to talk about straight after the game and I’d like to watch it back,” he said.
“The players will watch it back because they’re in on Sunday to do that.
“We need to go into this period and a busy week by getting that out of the way ASAP – by watching it back and looking at the areas where we can get better. That was just not acceptable. It might be the worst performance.
“Usually the boys would have a Sunday off but we need to address it as soon as possible.
“I said in the build-up that we can beat anyone in this division when we’re at it but we can also get absolutely battered by anyone when we’re not.
“I’m really disappointed with what I’ve seen and we need to get better at being more streetwise and savvy when we’re under the cosh.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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