Longridge Town 0 Morecambe 1: Shrimps' first pre-season win
Gwion Edwards’ second-half goal gave Morecambe victory in Saturday’s pre-season outing at Longridge Town.
Twenty-four hours after the club announced 15 new signings ahead of the new campaign, Morecambe enjoyed a positive opening 10 minutes.
Two of those players, Hallam Hope and Jordan Slew, both registered attempts on goal.
Another summer signing, Ben Tollitt, came close to opening the scoring for the Shrimps on 13 minutes but headed just wide.
Five minutes later, another cross into the box found Tollitt again but he was denied by the crossbar.
Shortly afterwards, Adam Lewis’ ball into the box found Hope whose header went just over.
Then, just past the half-hour, Edwards displayed excellent pace in beating Longridge players before charging into the area.
Longridge keeper Jordan Gidley came off his line but Edwards slid the ball past him, only for Town defender Ryan McLean to clear off the line.
Moments after that, Hope saw a goal ruled out for offside before another attempt was pushed away at full stretch by Gidley.
That left the scores level at half-time, after which Tollitt had the first chance of the second period.
Having been dispossessed, he fought to win back possession before shooting just wide.
The deadlock was finally broken 12 minutes into the second half as Edwards netted with a powerful effort from close range.
Longridge had a flurry of chances to equalise around the 70-minute mark, but Morecambe keeper Stuart Moore was there to deny them a leveller.
The final 15 minutes of the match saw opportunities for both sides, including ones for Morecambe youngsters Adam Fairclough and Lennon Dobson.
However, it was Edwards’ strike that made the difference for Morecambe, whose next pre-season outing comes on Tuesday evening.
That sees them make the trip to Burscough (7.45pm), with admission £7 for adults, £5 concessions and £3 for under-16s.
Longridge Town: Gidley, Whalley, McLean, Fletcher, Marshall, Dainty, Watkinson, Smith, Atkinson, Van Wyk, Winder. Subs: Junior, Bailey, Hobbs, Turner.
Morecambe: Burgoyne, Hendrie, Lewis, Taylor, Stott, White, Slew, Jones, Hope, Tollitt, Edwards. Subs: Moore, Millen, Tutonda, Harrack, Songo’o, Lewis, Brown, Ray, Dobson, Fairclough, Evans, Mercer.