Crawley Town 4, Morecambe 0: Shrimps’ second half horror show

Morecambe went into the game as League Two leaders and all looked good at the break as they had enjoyed the better of the first half.

But it all went wrong in the second period as they conceded four goals as they capitulated against a revived Reds.

In-form midfielder Aaron Wildig clipped an effort over the bar from the edge of the box and John O’Sullivan failed to get a header on target from a Wildig corner.

Morecambe ended the half on top as veteran goalkeeper Glenn Morris came to Crawley`s rescue by parrying a goal-bound drive from Ryan Cooney.

Crawley had only one effort of note when Tyler Frost curled an effort wide from a good opening before the Shrimps ended the half on top with Ryan Cooney forcing Glenn Morris into a neat save to his left with a shot on the break.

The second half was a different game altogether as Crawley brought on new signing Max Watters for former Fleetwood man Ashley Nadesan in a substitution that changed the game.

Watters was immediately in the action seeing a shot blocked by Sam Lavelle and the home side stayed on the attack with right back George Francomb giving them the lead with a fine finish from the right hand side of the box with a shot that arrowed past Jake Turner.

The Shrimps hit back quickly with the game’s most controversial moment as Carlos Mendes-Gomes raced through on goal only to be hacked down by keeper Morris.

The Shrimps were hoping for a penalty and a possible red card but ended up with neither as after a long conversation between the officials the assistant decided that Mendes-Gomes was offside and gave the home side a free kick.

It was a decision that clearly rocked the Shrimps who lost their shape and the home side took full advantage.

Watters doubled Crawley’s lead on 67 minutes with an unchallenged header from Jack Powell’s right wing cross on 67 minutes ands five minutes later he was gifted his second as he took full advantage of a rare mistake by Sam Lavelle’s to slot the ball under the helpesss Turner.

The home side then added a fourth on 77 minutes when Frost collected the ball in the box and turned past Cooney to fire past Turner to complete a disappointing afternoon for the Shrimps.

Crawley: Morris, Doherty, Francomb, Powell (rep Ferguson 88), Nadesan (rep Watters 45), Frost (rep Allarakhia 79), Nichols, Tunnicliffe, Matthews, Craig, Hessenthaler. Subs not used: McGill, Davies, Galach, McNerney.

Morecambe: Turner, Lavelle, Davis, Cooney, Gibson, Stockton (rep Knight-Percival 79), Wildig, Mendes Gomes (rep McAlinden 68), Kenyon (rep Songo’o 31), O’Sullivan, Phillips, Cooney, Gibson. Subs not used: Da Silva Mendes, Slew, Pringle, Mellor.