Morecambe are well beaten – but staying up!

Mansfield Town 4 Morecambe 0Morecambe secured their League Two position for another season despite going down to a heavy defeat at promotion chasing Mansfield.
Keeper Barry Roche (photo: Getty Images)Keeper Barry Roche (photo: Getty Images)
Keeper Barry Roche (photo: Getty Images)

The Shrimps went down 4-0 but it could have been many more had it not been for keeper Barry Roche who made a string of superb saves.

Roche was in action as early as the fifth minute when he tipped over a close range header from Gethin Jones.

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He was alert to block a Jacob Mellis shot with his legs and then tip away a Neal Bishop drive at full stretch.

Morecambe hit back briefly with Andy Fleming seeing a goal-bound snapshot blocked by Kristian Pearce, and Richie Bennett heading a Liam Mandeville corner over the bar.

Mansfield took the lead on the half-hour. Ritchie Sutton gave the ball away cheaply and Benning was able to cross from the left for Mellis to drill a low shot home.

The Stag were denied again by Roche in injury time when the keeper somehow got down low to his left to tip away Tyler Walker’s close-range header.

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Roche could do nothing to halt Mansfield’s goal threat in the second half as the Stags powered home their advantage with three late goals.

They doubled their lead on 70 minutes when a right wing corner caused the Shrimps problems and defender Kristian Pearce was perfectly placed to fire home.

Two minutes later the home side made it 3-0. Mellis played in C J Hamilton down the right and he cut inside Steven Old before finding the target from eight yards out.

The Shrimps conceded a fourth five minutes from time when Mal Benning let fly with a left foot shot from 25 yards that flew into the bottom left-hand corner of Roche’s goal to cap bittersweet day for the Shrimps.

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Mansfield: Logan, Preston, Pearce, Sweeney, Jones, Bishop (Rose 83), Mellis, Benning, Grant (MacDonald 71), Walker (Rose 77), Hamilton. Subs not used: Smith, Atkinson, Turner, Hakeem.

Morecambe: Roche, Old, Sutton (Mingoia 45), Lavelle, Mills, Kenyon (Conlan 45), Fleming, Cranston, Mandeville, Bennett, Collins (Oliver 72). Subs not used: Halstead, Ellison, Hedley, McKay.

Referee: T Kettle.

Attendance: 5,177