| Nelson were snowed under by an avalanche of goals at a wintry Victoria Park last night, but only after giving their full-time opponents from the Conference a real scare. |
After the visitors had hit the woodwork with a header direct from a corner, Nelson took the lead after eleven minutes, when Paul Fildes picked up a poor clearance from Shrimps keeper Craig Mawson and found the net with a low 25-yard shot.
 | Carlton had squandered two good chances before poking home an easy tap-in for Morecambe's third |
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And Nelson might easily have increased their lead as Morecambe looked uncomfortable under pressure, with Jim Bentley rescuing his keeper with a header off the line from Craig Bradshaw's astute lob on 23 minutes.
However, all the Blues good work was undone in a seven minute period before half time. Dean Howell fired a shot across the box which eluded everyone and crept into the far corner, Martin Brown inadvertently turned a low cross from the left past Carrington and into the net, and Danny Carlton - having previously missed two sitters - prodded home an easy tap-in from close range following an unkind deflection off a Blues defender.
 | Substitute Ryan Sugden extends Morecambe's lead as the valiant Blues began to tire |
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The second half was in doubt with heavy snow falling, but Nelson pulled a goal back on 50 minutes when Bradshaw's cross was deflected off a defender. Keeper Mawson managed to block the ball but it rebounded out enough for Paul Barrett to nip in and blast firmly into the corner of the net.
Unfortunately Nelson were unable to keep up the momentum, and after Carrington had denied the visitors with two wonderful saves, Ryan Sugden restored Morecambe's cushion when he nipped in to score an opportunist goal after Stewart Drummons headed down a corner on 65 minutes.
With the visitors in the ascendancy, Howell netted their fifth goal with a low angled shot fifteen minutes from time, and Lee Dodgson completed the scoring on 83 minutes with a simple tap-in after Terry McFlynn's shot was deflected across the goalmouth.
The game was a credit to the competition containing not one yellow card even though it was played in extreme weather conditions, and gave full value to the 230 brave supporters who had turned out to watch the game.
With many thanks to Phil Carrington for the match photos |
