Rushden & Diamonds 0 Morecambe 2

SHRIMPS pulled off a stunning conference win away to high-flying, high-spending Rushden & Diamonds on Tuesday night.

In a game which saw Morecambe dominate much of the 90 minutes, it was a surprise to find the scoreline blank at half-time. It wasn't until the 70th minute that Shrimps John Norman, later substituted at the death, swept home a cross from Justin Jackson to fire the away side into a justified lead.

Top scorer Jackson, himself got on the score sheet after he was unceremoniously dumped on the turf in the penalty area. The Morecambe hotshot made no mistake from the penalty spot to grab the key to the door with his 21st goal of the season. Shrimps dominated the match and nobody would underestimate the contribution of Drummond who seemed to be at the heart of everything the Shrimps did

A nervy start to the match by Morecambe was soon settled after Miquel de Souza's header was brilliantly saved by Steve McIlhargey on the fifth minute. After that early scare the Shrimps keeper found himself mainly redundant for the first half as the Shrimps gradually wound up the pressure on the home side.

The second half was a mirror image of the first with Rushden starting the stronger but with Morecambe once again taking control.

The Shrimps are finishing the season on a high, but who knows if the hiccups in the middle of the current campaign could have been cured soon enough, we could have been seeing league football at Christie Park next season.

Team: McIlhargey, Fensome, Brown, McKearney, Hardiker, Knowles, Thompson (Burns 90), Drummond , Jackson, Norman (Hardy 90), Eastwood (McGuire 77).

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.