Morecambe suffered their first home defeat of the season with a heavy defeat to Northampton.

The Shrimps got off to the worst possible start when Northampton went ahead after just three minutes.

Andy Holt won the ball in the middle of the field and found Steve Guinan on the left hand side of the box. The former Hereford man cut inside on to his right foot and produced a superb curler past Ben Smith.

The Shrimps hit back with a penalty on 27 minutes when Mark Duffy was brought down by Andy Holt and Phil Jevons sent Chris Dunn the wrong way from the spot.

Five minutes from the break the Shrimps went ahead when Ian Craney's cross was met by Stewart Drummond who headed past Dunn from six yards out.

The Cobblers dominated the early stages of the second half with Ben Smith saving superbly form Luke Guttridge and John Johnson before Andy Holt levelled on 69 minutes with a sweet close range finish from Marshall's excellent right wing cross.

It then went sour for the Shrimps as Northampton powered forward and added two further goals. On 79 minutes Ben Smith could only parry Ben Marshall's shot and John Johnson was on hand to score from close range.

As the Shrimps looked for an equaliser they were punished again when Ade Akinfenwa was too strong for Jim Bentley and drilled a low shot past Smith. 

Morecambe: Smith; Hunter, Adams, Bentley, Artell, Wilson; Craney Drummond, Duffy, Mullin, Jevons. Subs: Davies, Taylor, Stanley, McStay, Moss, Curtis, Twiss.

Northampton: Dunn; Rodgers, Johnson, Hinton, Beckwith; Curtis, Guttridge, Holt, Gilligan; Guinan, Akinfenwa. Subs: McKay, Brown, McCready, Dyer, Marshall, Kanyuka, Jacobs.