Match Report: Morecambe 2-3 Crawley Town
MORECAMBE suffered a third successive home defeat as they shipped three late goals in a five goal thriller.
In the first game at the Globe since Diego Lemos took over the Shrimps played some good football but were undone by some poor defending in the final stages of the match.
Jim Bentley lade two changes to the side that beat Cambridge with the ill Cole Stockton only fit enough for a place on the bench and Andy Fleming ruled out with an ankle injury that saw Peter Murphy able to make his first start of the season in midfield.
Crawley started the game well with a long range Billy Clifford shot forcing a good save from Barry Roche and James Collins firing wide from a good opening after a neat interchange of passes on the edge of the Morecambe box.
The home side then found their feet with midfielder Michael Rose at the heart of things. On 15 minutes he forced an excellent save from Glenn Morris with a free kick that was heading for the top corner and the visiting keeper reacted sharply again moments later to tip over a dipping volley from the same Morecambe player.
Morris had to be at his best again to save a Paul Mullin chip at full stretch but Crawley had chances of their own as well with Collins seeing a header from a Kaby Djalo corner well saved by Roche low to his left.
The game's most controversial moment came just after the restart when Murphy scored with a header only to see the goal ruled out for offside in a decision that was clearly a wrong one.
The action went from end to end but the game really came to life in the final 20 minutes with all five goals coming in that spell.
Crawley made their first substitution on 66 minutes when Jason Banton made way for Adi Yussuf. And the substitution bore fruit immediately as Djalo’s effort was deflected into the air and Yussuf put it away.
The visitors made it 2-0 with nine minutes to go when Yussuf set-up Collins to slot home. However Morecambe pulled a goal back five minutes later when Rose curled a free-kick into the net.
Yussuf and Collins combined again as Collins scored his second goal of the game in the 90th minute to seal a 3-1 victory. But the game was still not over as the home side made it 3-2 when substitute Stockton fired into the top corner of the net in the third of four added minutes.
Crawley: Morris, Young, Connolly, Boldewijn (Bawling 90), Smith (capt), Banton (Yussuf 66), Blackman, Clifford (Davey 72), Collins, McNerney, Djalo Subs: Mersin, Arthur, Yorwerth, Tajbakhsh
Morecambe: Roche, Wakefield, Edwards, Winnard, Mullin (Stockton 64), Murphy, Barkhuizen, Ellison, Conlan, Dunn, Rose Subs: Nizic, McGowan, Kenyon, Molyneux, Massanka, Jennings
Referee: Chris Sarginson (Staffordshire)