Morecambe 5 Aldershot Town 2

Last updated : 10 September 2005 By Footymad Previewer
What a difference a week makes. Those who witnessed the Shrimps' drab 0-0 draw at Christie Park would have had to look twice to make sure they were watching the same side as Jim Harvey's side tore struggling Aldershot apart.

Harvey changed things around by reverting back to a 4-4-2 formation and it paid off in style.

Michael Twiss led the way with two goals, while Wayne Curtis, Sean O'Connor, and Danny Carlton were also on target.

It was Curtis who fired Morecambe into a 26th-minute lead with an excellent finish. Chris Blackburn dinked a ball into the Shots' box from the right hand side and Curtis nipped in front of Tarkan Mustafa to volley past Nikki Bull from 12 yards out.

The lead lasted just six minutes. Morecambe keeper Ryan Robinson could only half-clear a Ryan Williams corner to Scott Guyett. His header was cleared off the line by O'Connor but Greg Heald was positioned perfectly to bundle home the loose ball.

There was more goal action to come on the stroke of half-time. Twiss seemed to have nowhere to go on the left hand side but he steamed his way past defenders and goalkeeper to cross for O'Connor to mark his first start of the season with the easiest of tap-ins from three yards out.

Once again Aldershot bounced straight back when the Morecambe defence dropped their guard and Tim Sills' flick-on was turned in by Chris McPhee from eight yards out to level the scores at the break.

That was a huge disappointment for the home side but they bounced back strongly in the second half after surviving an early scare when McPhee headed Williams' free-kick just wide.

Seconds later Twiss headed home a Garry Thompson free-kick and Morecambe were on their way.

Twiss fired wide again and David Perkins had a shot beaten down by Heald before Carlton sealed the points with a great finish on 80 minutes to make it 4-2.

Four minutes later Twiss added his second with a cool left-foot volley from six yards out to cap a fine afternoon.