Morecambe 1, Wrexham 3: Robins hit back to down the Shrimps

In a game affected by a controversial refereeing performances, the Shrimps failed to take advantage of Ged Garner's fourth minute opener as goals from James McLean, Paul Mullin and Steven Fletcher earned the visitors victory.

Shrimps' boss Ged Brannan made three changes from the side that beat Crawley in midweek with Jordan Slew, Gwion Edwards and Chris Stokes recalled as Julian Larsson and Charlie Brown dropped to the bench and Farrend Rawson missed out through injury.

And Brannan's side got off to the perfect start with a goal after just four minutes through Garner.

The Wrexham defence got themselves into a mess from a long ball forward and Garner took full advantage when he kept his cool in the box to direct a low shot past the stranded Arthur Okonkwo.

Morecambe continued to apply the pressure with Max Melbourne seeing a shot deflected wide and Joel Senior sending in a ’dangerous free kick that just needed a final touch.

But with the Shrimps on top they gave away the sloppiest of equalisers. Jacob Bedeau made a mess of an attempted backpass which gave Mullin the chance to run on goal and square for McClean to slam the ball home from the edge of the box.

It was a mistake that changed the pattern of the game and on 36 minutes the Shrimps were grateful to Mair for a superb double save to deny Mullin and the follow up from Ryan Barnett.

The Shrimps started the second-half poorly and soon found themselves behind after two controversial decisions from referee Thomas Parsons.

Five minutes after the restart Max Melbourne received a second yellow card for allegedly clipping Ollie Palmer and moments after that the man in the middle was in the thick of the action again as he awarded a penalty for a David Tutonda handball.

Mullin made no mistake as he sent Mair the wrong way and the Red Dragons took control from there with the man extra.

Morecambe looked to fight back with Jordi Hiwula sending a shot well over and Bedeau testing Okonkwo but with 10 minutes remaining substitute Fletcher made it 3-1 for Wrexham as he headed home McLean's cross.

The Shrimps fought to the end and were denied a clear penalty of their own on a day where the visitors were given more than a helping hand by the officials.

Morecambe: Mair, Bedeau, Songo’o (Davenport 60), Adams (Tutonda 52), Garner (Hiwula 60), Senior, Slew, Stokes, Edwards (Brown 80), Melbourne, Khumbeni. Subs not used: Smith, Larsson, Harrack.

Booked: Melbourne, Songo’o, Edwards.

Sent off: Melbourne.​