MORECAMBE 2 CITY 0

MARK Trueman could not escape the victory chant that hung in the seaside air.

As he faced the final post-match press briefing, 100 or so Morecambe fans provided a noisy presence in the car park to celebrate the club reaching their record points tally.

The strains of “We are going up, we are going up” drifted over the grandstand.

Not true, of course; not yet, anyway.

This victory proved academic for the Shrimps as crushing wins for Bolton and Cambridge filled the remaining automatic promotion slots.

Morecambe’s hopes of a first promotion as a league club will hinge on a successful play-off campaign as James Vaughan’s Tranmere await.

But at least they’ve still got a crack at it; City gave up on their hopes of extending the season a few weeks back.

Trueman’s admission that some of his squad had “mentally switched off” will surprise nobody who has had the misfortune to watch the shambolic final month.

What will be the major concern – and one no doubt shared by the Bantam paymasters – is that the two managers were so clearly unable to get a tune out of the team once there were signs of sacking it off.

With seven games left, the Bantams had been one win off the play-offs.

That’s one win more than they managed from that moment onwards.

A solitary point in a dreadful draw with Scunthorpe was the sole reward for their “efforts” following the last victory against relegated Grimsby on April 10. Run-in? More of a drunken stagger.

Talk of “finishing strong” was hollow and cheap. City did nothing of the sort.

The moment the top seven started to drift on to the horizon, tools were downed.

They signed off without a goal in nearly six hours of huff and puff after Clayton Donaldson had scored at Port Vale.

City finished in 15th – their lowest position since that impressive win at champions Cheltenham in February that had generated genuine belief that this season could amount to something special.

The team that shambled to a sixth defeat in seven on Saturday looked a shadow of that; a reality that once again needs to be confronted from top to bottom over the summer.

Morecambe boss Derek Adams has talked about changing the mindset at a club traditionally dismissed as League Two cannon fodder.

He wanted no more of “little old Morecambe” from a team he believes capable of punching above their weight. How they have delivered on that.

City, on the other hand, continue to slip the other way. The undisputed champions of under-achieving.

In the town of Tyson Fury, they barely tied up their gloves.

The bookies had priced the visitors at a distant 4/1 to upset the formbook. When have the Bantams ever had such lengthy odds for a trip to “Bradford by the sea”?

This outcome, sadly, will have surprised nobody.

The advantage in possession – 70 per cent of the ball – proved as empty as it had been in the final home game the previous week.

Morecambe, just like Scunthorpe, were happy for City to have it, keep it, knock it sideways, turn it back, punt it long. There was never the slightest danger of them getting in behind and causing any genuine moments of concern.

Adams builds his defence big; four six footers, physical and strong.

They included Nathaniel Knight-Percival, transformed from the broken figure relegated with City two years ago.

Kelvin Mellor, another rejuvenated ex-Bantam, acted as an enthusiastic supporter high up in the stand after his recent red card against Bolton.

But he will be eligible for the second play-off game; some contrast for a player bombed 12 months ago from Valley Parade.

The Shrimps backline was well protected by the uncompromising midfield duo of Yann Songo’o and the well-travelled Toumani Diagouraga.

Portuguese winger Carlos Mendes Gomes is tipped to go higher; willing centre forward Cole Stockton is not sure of League Two admirers.

They are a solid unit confident in what they do – and always in control on the final day, with or without the ball.

Adams screamed himself hoarse for much of the first half with referee Craig Hicks, who had a poor afternoon, in the firing line from both sides.

But once third spot was confirmed as beyond their reach, the Scot was happy to take a back seat.

He had rested most of his big hitters by the time Hicks finally put City out of their misery.

The Bantams’ coach had been greeted on arrival by a band of well-wishers booked into the neighbouring caravan park.

The trip had, no doubt, been arranged well in advance with the hope of urging the team on for one final play-off push.

The only cheers on that score came from the flare-wielding locals well after the final whistle.

City were there purely to make up the numbers, just as the bookmakers had predicted.

It took them 76 minutes to wake home keeper Kyle Letheren from his slumbers and make a first save as Donaldson prodded Jordan Stevens’ cross goalwards.

Letheren, one of many Plymouth old boys on show, then defied another in stoppage time with a sharp block from Billy Clarke’s header.

That could well have been Clarke’s last involvement for City; the same could be said for several others out of contract including Connor Wood, whose substitution on his 50th appearance of the season meant he would not see through every minute of the league campaign.

Wood had also curled a free-kick narrowly past the post. Even with two up front, that was the sum of City’s attacking threats.

News of Bolton’s decisive second goal at Crawley was just filtering through when Morecambe broke the deadlock on 20 minutes.

Callum Cooke, who at least looked bothered by the general malaise, gave the ball away in the middle of the park allowing Diagouraga to run at City.

Liam McAlinden, who had already hit a post, received his pass and slid the ball through Sam Hornby’s legs.

The Bantams paid the price for ball-watching with the second.

Jorge Sikora, who otherwise shaped up well on his league debut, was briefly caught out by a long pass from Songo’o.

It was controlled and cheekily laid off by Mendes Gomes and Stockton applied the simple finish.

City may have shouted a good game with Elliot Watt and Paudie O’Connor providing a constant vocal backdrop. But they once again failed to put words into actions.

Cooke had a face like thunder at the final whistle. At least it showed he cared.

The serenading outside was not for his team. Another season ends with little love lost for City.