Forest Green Rovers 1-2 Morecambe
Sky Bet League One
The New Lawn Stadium
Saturday 17 September 2022
Kick-Off: 3:00pm
Attendance: 2,601 (112 away)
A last gasp winner from former Rovers man Farrend Rawson earned Morecambe the win at the New Lawn.
The first chance of the game fell to the way of Morecambe after Donald Love found himself one-on-one with Luke McGee after a minute, but a deflection sent the skipper’s attempt behind for a corner, which the Green cleared without hesitation.
After 10 minutes, the hosts played the ball neatly down the right flank and managed to find Connor Wickham, his resulting cross into the box was dangerous, however no Rovers player was there to capitalise.
Seven minutes later and it was the hosts who came close after a corner was swung in and Oliver Casey found space at the back post, but he couldn’t find the connection required to send the ball home.
It was then Morecambe’s turn to try their luck through Jensen Weir from distance, but his powerful strike whistled wide of the goalkeeper’s left-hand post.
Moments later and the Shrimps came close once more, Kieran Phillips did well to round the goalkeeper and strike at goal, but the ball deflected off Jordan Moore-Taylor, struck the crossbar and fell into the grateful arms of McGee.
The hosts managed to break the deadlock on the half-hour mark as Wickham curled an effort from distance, which saw the ball loop over Connor Ripley and land in the back of the Morecambe net.
It was Rovers who came close seven minutes later as Myles Peart-Harris drove an effort from distance, but it lacked any real direction to test Ripley.
Three minutes before the break and former Green defender Rawson came close for the Shrimps, his hooked effort was saved well by McGee, but the Shrimps wouldn’t be denied for long.
Some excellent play from Kieran Phillips saw the attacker twist and turn inside the Rovers box, evading defensive pressure, before sending the equaliser home right on the stroke of half-time, a delightful solo effort from the Huddersfield Town loanee.
Half-time: Forest Green Rovers 1-1 Morecambe.
It was nearly the perfect start to the second-half for Morecambe as Cole Stockton let strike from just outside the area, but McGee managed to get fingertips on the ball to send the danger behind.
From the resulting corner, Forest Green launched a counter and nearly grabbed their second, but Ripley made himself big and was able to deny Wickham at close range.
In what was turning into an open encounter, Hendry sent in a dangerous ball for the hosts which Dominic Bernard was equal to, his header forced Ripley into a fine fingertip save, similar to McGee’s earlier in the half.
A minute before the hour mark and Phillips came close to his, and Morecambe’s, second of the game, but his effort on the angle was saved by McGee.
Whilst it looked to be heading for a draw, former Rovers man Rawson had other ideas.
A deep free-kick was sent into the mix in injury time, and there was Morecambe’s number five at the back post to secure all-three-points for Derek Adams men.
Full-time: Forest Green Rovers 1-2 Morecambe
Forest Green Rovers: McGee, O’Keeffe, Bernard ©, Casey, Hendry (Stevenson, 80’) Moore-Taylor, Fiabema, Wickham, Marques, Peart-Harris (Brown, 74’) Davis (Little, 62’)
Subs not used: Thomas, Jones, McAllister, Bunker
Goals: Wickham 30’,
Bookings: O’Keeffe 25’, Wickham 63’,
Red cards: None
Morecambe: Ripley, Love (C), Gibson (Cooney, 39’), Rawson, Delaney, Taylor (Gnahoua, 66’), Stockton (Connolly, 83’), Weir, Bedeau, Shaw (Fane, 83’), Phillips
Subs not used: Smith, Obika, O’Connor
Goals: Phillips 44’, Rawson 90+3’
Bookings: Cooney 52’,
Red cards: None