THE eagerly awaited pre-season friendly between Lancaster City and Morecambe on Tuesday never took place because Morecambe could not field a team.

The Shrimps pulled out of the Giant Axe encounter at lunchtime on Monday, saying that Jim Harvey had only nine fit players to choose from.

A gruelling programme of four high-profile warm-up games against Football League opposition in eight days at Christie Park had taken its toll on his squad.

A notice on the Morecambe FC official website said simply: "Shrimps manager Jim Harvey is currently worried about the fitness of 11 players for the coming season start on August 14 and could not risk further injuries to his side."

City moved quickly to plug the hole in manager Phil Wilson's build-up to the coming season in the new Conference North by lining up Leigh RMI as opponents