Morecambe 0, Peterborough 3: First-half horror show condemns Shrimps to defeat

On a day of misfortune for the Shrimps the visitors were 3-0 up after just 30 minutes thanks to two deflected goals and a rare mistake from keeper Connor Ripley.

Boss Derek Adams made three changes from the side that lost at Sheffield Wednesday in midweek with recalls for Ryan Cooney, Adam Mayor and Arthur Gnahoua with MIchael Mellon, Dynel Simeu and Ryan Delaney dropping to the bench.

The early stages of the game saw Peterborough play some neat football without threatening but that all changed when Jack Taylor opened the scoring on 13 minutes. He tried his luck with a long range effort that took a wicked deflection off Farrend Rawson's head that looped the ball over Ripley.

There was more misfortune for Ripley ten minutes later when he gifted the Posh their second. The visitors were awarded a controversial free kick on the edge of the Morecambe box and they took full advantage of the gift as Joe Ward's effort beat the wall and went straight through Ripley.

To add to the Shrimps' woes the visitors added a third on 29 minutes. Kwame Poku broke quickly down the right and produced a shot that Jacob Bedeau diverted past the flat footed Ripley.

Morecambe hit back just before the break with Liam Shaw forcing an acrobatic save from Will Norris with a well struck shot from the edge of the area.

Rawson was then unlucky to hit the foot of the post from a close range header with a moment that summed up the Shrimps' day.

The second-half saw Morecambe waste a golden chance to pull one back on the hour when Shaw headed wide from Adam Mayor's corner when unmarked six yards out.

Rawson then followed suit with another missed chance from another Mayor corner as the Shrimps drew a blank for the third time in four games and slipped to second bottom of the table in the process.

Morecambe: Ripley, Cooney, Rawson, Bedeau, Gibson, Gnahoua (rep Mellon 72), Weir (rep Taylor 72), Shaw (rep Austerfield 72), Mayor, Crowley, Stockton. Subs not used: Smith, Love, Delaney, Simeu.

Peterborough: Norris, Ward, Knight, Edwards, Ogbeta, Poku (rep Thompson 61), Kyprianou (rep Fuchs 45), Taylor, Mason-Clark, Burrows (rep Butler 76), Clarke-Harris. Subs not used: Blackmore, Kent, Randall, Tshimanga.

Ref: D Handley.

Att: 4,172.