James Beattie anticipates that Morecambe will come out all guns blazing at the Store First Stadium as they look to put an end to their poor Football League record against Stanley.

Shrimps boss Jim Bentley is on record about his frustration at never having beaten the Reds in League Two and with the visitors 12^th in the table they’ll be looking to change that tonight.

But the Stanley boss isn’t reading too much into what has gone before.

“Hopefully that trend will continue but I think you’ve seen from this league any team can beat any team on the day,” he explained.

“I’m not superstitious about the record and I’m sure that Jim will have his lads fired up and ready to try to put it right from their perspective, but we’ll be trying to keep it right from ours.

“Every game of football is enjoyable, but with it being a local derby – I think it’s one of the biggest derbies for us at Stanley, our fans went absolutely crazy when Peter Murphy scored the late winner and the lads who have been here a few years reacted in the same way. It’s another game and hopefully one to see us on the road to securing Football League status.”

Bentley like Beattie has made the transition from player to manager and looks like guiding the Shrimps to safety for another season – and possibly even to a last gasp play-off charge.

The Stanley boss is a big fan of his opposite number.

“He’s working for the same sort of things I am with no particular budget,” he said. “I think they’ve managed to gain a good foundation of fans, which is a massive positive for them. That’s something that we’re missing.

“But he’s done a great job. It’s all about money these days and how many people you can get involved. He’s done a great job on the budget that he’s on and he’s making progress at the club for sure.”

Beattie must decide whether to stick with the side narrowly beaten at Rochdale on Saturday or make changes to his starting eleven. Regardless of what he decides, he feels a substitute could have the key role in securing derby day success.

“When the game’s going on they need to be warm because the match-winner could be sat there, so they need to be right mentally,” he added. “Nobody likes to be on the bench but that’s the way it is for the guys that are sat there at that moment. But they need to be in the right frame of mind and right physically because when they go on the pitch they want to be able to do what they want to do.

“If they’re not right mentally and physically they won’t be able to do that.

“This is a team now and a squad that I believe in 100 per cent and if we do the right things at the right time I’m sure we’ll win a few games between now and the end of the season.”