Wycombe Wanderers 0-2 Morecambe
TWO second half goals earned the Shrimps an excellent victory over Wycombe at Adams Park to begin 2016 in style.
Shaun Miller's 54th minute opener gave the Shrimps the advantage with a Jamie Devitt penalty five minutes from time putting the gloss on a solid display.
Miller put the Shrimps ahead with his second goal in two games. A long ball from the right found Kevin Ellison in the box. The striker played the ball back into the danger area and Miller took advantage of Anthony Stewart's poor attempted clearance to bundle the ball home from close range with his knee.
From there the home side stepped up the pace but could not find a way past a solid Morecambe defence and the Shrimps scored the all important second in the closing stages of the game. A long ball forward saw Aaron Wildig run through the middle of the two Wycombe centre halves only to be brought down by Wycombe keeper Matt Ingram who was sent off for his challenge.
Right back Jamie McCarthy was forced to go in goal as Wycombe had used all their subs but he could not stop Jamie Devitt stroking home the second goal from the penalty spot.
The first half saw few clear chances with the major talking point being the loss of Peter Murphy.
The Shrimps' skipper was stretchered off in the 15th minute after a tackle which saw him left in agony with what looks to be a cruciate ligament injury.
Kevin Ellison produced the first effort of any note in the 10th minute from a free kick on the edge of the Wycombe area which forced Matt Ingram into a scampering save low to his left.
The next chance came on 28 minutes when Tom Barkhuizen set off on a driving run to the edge of the Wycombe box but saw his final effort well blocked by right back Jason McCarthy.
Six minutes later Andy Parrish beat his marker to get onto the end of a Jamie Devitt corner but failed to get a decent connection with the ball with his attempted header and the chance went begging.
It mattered little in the end however as the Shrimps picked up a superb three points.
WYCOMBE: Ingram, McCarthy, Stewart, Pierre, Jacobson, Harriman, Bloomfield, O'Nien, Wood (rep Ugwu 70), Kretzschmar (rep Udumaga 63), Thompson (rep Amadi-Holloway 70). Subs not used: Lynch, Jombati, McGinn, Rowe.
MORECAMBE: Roche, Beeley, Dugdale, Parrish, Wilson, Fleming, Murphy (rep Goodall 15), Barkhuizen, Devitt (rep Mullin 85), Ellison, Miller (rep Wildig 70). Subs not used: Thompson, Edwards, Forrester, Molyneux.
Ref: A Davies.