Morecambe 0-1 Northampton
THE Shrimps suffered their first home defeat of the season as they went down to a 33rd minute Ivan Toney goal.
It was the third 1-0 in a row for Jim Bentley’s side on another frustrating afternoon for his charges.
Toney scored the only goal of the game when he took advantage of a gift in the 33rd minute.
After a deep ball into the Morecambe box was only half cleared and keeper Barry Roche raced from his goal to collect but got nowhere near the ball and Ivan Toney headed into the empty goal from eight yards out.
Northampton dominated the early stages of the game and Toney and Ryan Watson both forcing Roche into neat saves from long range efforts with the game less than two minutes old.
Toney was close to turning home an excellent right wing cross from Lawson D’Ath before Kaid Mohamed volleyed straight at Roche from six yards out when he looked set to bundle home Chris Hackett’s left wing corner.
Morecambe failed to force Jordan Archer into a save in the first half but dominated the possession in the second without looking too threatening.
The best chance fell to substitute Paul Mullin but after a direct run on goal he dragged his final shot wide of the right hand post when he should have at least tested Archer.
In the final stages Archer was forced into his only save of note with a tip over from Alan Goodall’s looping header but it was too little too late from the home side who suffered a third successive defeat.
Morecambe: Roche, Beeley, Parrish, Edwards, Widdowson; Fleming (rep Mullin 66), Williams (rep Sampson 84), Kenyon (rep Goodall 46), Amond, Redshaw, Ellison. Subs not used: Arestidou, McGowan, Hughes, Wright.
Booked: Mullin
Northampton: Archer, Tozer, Cresswell, Collins, Robertson; Hackett (rep Carter 80), Watson, Byrom, Mohamed (rep Ravenhill 85); D’Ath (rep O’Toole 70), Toney. Subs not used: Snedker, Warburton, Moyo.
Booked: Byrom.
Ref: S Duncan.
Attendance: 1,725