Late Andy Mangan goal denies Shrimps a brave point at the Greenhous Meadow
Shrewsbury Town 1
Morecambe 0
A LATE goal from Andy Mangan denied the Shrimps a brave point at the Greenhous Meadow.
Morecambe had been forced to defend for long periods against the side with the best home record in League 2 but looked set for a point until Mangan was in the right place at the right time to score from close range after Scott Davies had saved superbly from James Collins’s shot.
The home side had come close on several occasions prior to the goal with Collins crashing a low shot against the post and Davies making two superb saves from the home striker.
The Shrimps went close to securing a dramatic point in injury time when Mark Ellis diverted Padraig Amond’s pass inches wide of his own post.
The day started badly for the Shrimps who were forced to pull out Jamie Devitt from the starting line up as he felt a reaction to his recent hamstring injury in the warm up and was replaced by Ryan Williams.
Despite that late change Morecambe started brightly and went close to opening the scoring on just six minutes. Young striker Paul Mullin received the ball with his back to goal inside the Shrewsbury box but turned sharply and curled an effort inches wide of the left hand post.
The home side then enjoyed a period of dominance with Blackpool loanee Bobby Grant being denied a run on goal by a sharp save from Scott Davies before the Shrews’ midfielder hit the post just after the half hour with a curler from just inside the area.
Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro headed a right wing cross inches wide before prolific striker James Collins tested Davis with a header from close range. Collins hen drilled a shot from 25 yards just over before Grant went close again.
After a period on the back foot Morecambe ended the half on top with Mullin forcing Leutwiler into a superb save after latching on to Nathaniel Knight-Percival’s poor backpass.
Shrewsbury: Leutwiler, Passley, Ellis, Goldson, Demetriou, Grant (rep Griffith 88), Woods, Lawrence, Akpa Akpro (rep Mangan 62), Collins, Knight Percival.
Subs not used: Halstead, Vincent, Vernon, Gayle, Clark.
Morecambe: Davies, Beeley, Parrrish, Edwards, Hughes, Wilson, Williams, Drummond, Kenyon (rep Goodall 57), Mullin (rep Amond 59), Ellison.
Subs not used: Arestidou, McGowan, McCready.
Att: 4,708.