Morecambe 2 Dagenham 1

Last updated : 05 April 2003 By Footymad Previewer

Morecambe moved closer to clinching a play-off spot with this vital victory in an action packed Conference encounter.

Two goals in four minutes at the start of the second half earned Morecambe the points after coming from behind for the second week in succession.

Danny Shipp gave Dagenham a dream start with a superb strike on 14 minutes.

The goal came just minutes after Morecambe skipper Stewart Drummond had missed a penalty, awarded after Jason Broom had brought down Garry Thompson.

Drummond blazed his effort wide of the goal but Shipp made no mistake with his effort, a superb 25-yard drive that flew past the right hand of Craig Mawson.

Both sides traded chances after that with Morecambe's best effort coming from top scorer Wayne Curtis who lofted the ball over the bar when he only had Tony Roberts to beat.

Thompson came close two minutes later with a fine individual effort before the visitors had a golden chance to extend their lead in first-half injury time.

Junior McDougald raced on to a long throughball but with only Mawson to beat the Morecambe keeper denied him superbly.

McDougald was made to pay for his miss when Morecambe scored twice in quick succession at the start of the second half.

On 47 minutes Drummond's right-footed shot hit the foot of the post but rebounded nicely for Adriano Rigoglioso to head home the rebound.

Four minutes later it was 2-1 to the home side when Curtis drilled a 20-yard free-kick through the wall and into the bottom left hand corner.

Morecambe then dominated with Rigoglioso, Curtis and Talbot all coming close.

Dagenham's efforts to get back into the game were not helped by the dismissal of Ashley Vickers on 69 minutes for a second bookable offence but to their credit Dagenham battled to the death and almost snatched a late equaliser.

Shipp headed a Tarkan Mustafa cross inched wide and Steve West headed a John McGrath cross just over the bar before Dagenham were dismayed to see a Mark Stein flick cleared off the line by home full-back David McKearney.