Reserve Team Match Report: Morecambe Res 2-0 Bradford City
A goal in each half from Qarri Mergim and Kyle Hawley earned the Shrimps' second string victory over Bradford City at the Globe Arena.
The Shrimps started brightly and took a ninth minute lead when Luke Jordan's cross into the box picked out Mergim in space and the attacker neatly fired home into the far bottom corner.
Bradford responded with efforts on goal from Daniel Pybus and Kwame Boateng later in the half but both strikes were repelled.
With the Bantams still looking stronger as the interval approached, Niah Payne and Mohamed Saeed fired wide of the target with efforts from just inside the box.
Aided by four half-time substitutions, allowed under Central League rules, Morecambe ensured the flow of second half looked more balanced.
One of those interval introductions, Steven Yawson, fired narrowly wide with an angled drive roughly 10 minutes after the restart before the Shrimps doubled their advantage just past the hour mark.
The goal came about in slightly fortuitous circumstances, however. King came across to prevent Hawley from latching onto Mergim's pass but the defender's attempted tackle actually saw the ball bounce off the Morecambe striker and into the far corner.
A searching run from Curtis Peters just minutes later threatened to pull a goal back for City but neither he nor Pybus could scramble the ball in from close range.
At the other end, Yawson, who looked bright following his appearance from the bench, saw a looping header from a cross into the Bantams' box come off the top of George Sykes-Kenworthy's crossbar.
Morecambe: Nizic, McGowan, Conlan, Kenyon, Brownsword, Aboubacatr, Jordan, Knight, Hawley, Mergim, Blackett.