Morecambe lose to Aldershot as safety hangs by a thread

Coming into the fixture, The Shrimps found themselves five points from safety.

By full-time, results elsewhere meant the gap was eight, with only five games left to play.

An already challenging task was made all the more difficult by Morecambe's inability to create clear-cut chances, fortunate that the visitors could not take theirs.

Ben Tollitt came closest for the hosts, when the substitute fired his shot into the side netting late on.

However, it was Aldershot's own substitute Kwame Thomas who would break the deadlock in the 87th minute.

Desperately needing to salvage something, Morecambe were the architects of their own downfall. Conceding a penalty in added time which Ryan Hill converted to kill the game.

With Gateshead being the only team in the bottom six to earn a victory, today will feel like an opportunity missed for The Shrimps.

Now eight points behind Eastleigh and safety, Morecambe's place in the National League appears all but condemned.

What Morecambe boss Jim Bentley said:

On his feelings after the game:

"It's disappointing, it's not nice, it's very, very frustrating as well but we've just got to keep going."

On the players' attitude:

"It's not as if they're coming into training and they're not doing anything and they're not showing the appetite, the will and the fight in them, that's not the case."

On what come next:

"We've got to embrace the Easter fixtures, Friday, Monday, come out fighting.

"We've just got to attack these two fixtures, give our absolute and play for the shirts, represent the town and the community in the right manner."

Line-ups:

Morecambe: Boney, Payne (Tollitt 84), Dean, Edwards, Azeez, Hogan, Lewis (Thomas 84), Songo'o (c) (Sangare 74), Akindileni, Nolan, Popov (Ogwuru 73)

Aldershot: Boyce-Clarke, Scott, Nightingale, Grogan, Sheckleford (Tetek 89), Peart, Hargreaves, Hill (c), Stewart (Thomas 84), Henry (Widdrington 71), Warren

Goals: Thomas (87), Hill (90+1)

Booked: Hargreaves