THE Shrimps picked up a hard earned point in an incident-packed game with Football League new boys Salford City at the Globe Arena.
Goals from Shaun Miller and Lewis Alessandra gave the Shrimps the points with Danny Lloyd bagging a brace for the visitors who went on to miss two penalties with Barry Roche saving a late spot kick from Richie Towell.
Shrimps’ boss Jim Bentley made seven changes to the side that lost at Blackpool in midweek and selected the same side that lost to Swindon last Saturday.
The game started at a frantic pace with Salford from man Lloyd in the thick of the action.
He was soon in action firing Dan Jones’ cross straight at Roche on nine minutes, only to open the scoring six minutes later with a volley from the edge of the area after a poor clearance from the Shrimps’ defence.
Roche also held Adam Rooney’s effort and Jake Jervis shot off target before the visitors were handed the chance to extend their lead through a penalty on 31 minutes when he referee spotted a handball. Thankfully for the Shrimps Lloyd’s effort crashed against the crossbar and the scores remained level.
Morecambe’s best effort in the first half came from George Tanner who saw fierce shot brilliantly saved by Kyle Letheren.
But the Shrimps soon found their feet in the second half and scored two superb goals in the space of three minutes.
The first came on 48 minutes when Aaron Wildig played in Shaun Miller and the striker slotted the ball past Leheren for his first goal since rejoining the club.
Morecambe then added a second on 50 minutes after another well worked goal, Miller played in Alessandra with a fantastic through ball but after his first effort was saved by Letheren he got back to his feet and at full stretch slowed the ball into the empty net.
Back came the visitors with Roche thwarting Jervis and Rooney before he gifted Salford their leveller midway through the half.
Lloyd curled in a free-kick from deep and, as the ball dropped from out of the sun, Roche could only fumble it into the net.
To their credit, Morecambe’s heads did not drop with Letheren holding Sam Lavelle’s effort, while Andrew Tutte and John O’Sullivan were off target.
However, it was Salford who had the best chance to win the game three minutes from time when Salford were awarded the softest of penalties and Lloyd went down under the challenge from Adam Buxton and the referee pointed to the spot.
Up stepped Towell on the occasion but Roche made amends for his earlier error with a superb penalty save to ensure a share of the spoils.
Morecambe: Roche, Sutton, Lavelle, Old, Tanner, Tutte, Wildig (Cranston 81), Conlan (Buxton 72), O’Sullivan, Miller, Alessandra (Ellison 84). Subs not used: Halstead, Stockton, Oates, Brownsword.
Salford City: Letheren, Wiseman, Baldwin, Piergianni, D Jones, Maynard, Towell (Hughes 88), Jervis, Dieseruvwe (J Jones 76), Lloyd, Rooney (Rodney 76). Subs not used: McFarlane, Burgess, Beesley.
Referee: Josh Smith.
Attendance: 2,778