Morecambe produced a stunning 4-2 victory to pull Rochdale down from the top of the table and reduce the gap from safety to six points.
On a day which presented a series of seemingly impossible challenges, Morecambe's task of closing an eight-point gap with Eastleigh took a hit when they fell behind as Aidan Barlow opened the scoring for Rochdale.
Rochdale, who began the day top of the table, conceded an equaliser against the run of play when a low cross found Lewis Payne who drilled his shot past Manchester City loanee Oliver Whatmuff.
Level at the break, Morecambe took a surprise lead in the second half when Payne grabbed a brace with just under half an hour to go, profiting from another cross Rochdale could not clear.
Morecambe would double their lead soon after as Jack Nolan's diving header, his 18th in this National League campaign, put the visitors in the perfect position to see out the game.
However, Rochdale pulled one back just six minutes later through a sublime lob from Ian Henderson.
A characteristically nervy ending to the game for Morecambe, they held on as Rochdale probed for a leveller. Kyle Jameson in particular sensational in defence with Myles Boney admirably stepping up to the plate in Jamal Blackman's absence.
But with seconds to go, Nolan played a through ball to Ben Tollitt, the forward making no mistake to seal the three points for Jim Bentley against his former side.
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With Eastleigh drawing with Woking and Brackley comfortably beaten by Forest Green Rovers, an eight-point deficit has become six with twelve points left to play for.
Morecambe, now in 22nd, face a serious challenge to their hopes of staying up when they host 3rd place Carlisle on Monday.
Then again, what is Easter about if not miracles?
Line-ups:
Rochdale: Whatmuff, Perry, Ebanks-Landell (c), K. Gordon, Moss, Barlow (Henderson 69), Pettit (Gimour 69), East (McBride 87), Hannant (J. Gordon 64), Dieseruvwe, Rodney (Smith 69)
Goals: Barlow (19), Henderson (78)
Booked: Hannant, K. Gordon
Morecambe: Boney, Jameson (Conte 88), Dean, Hogan, Edwards (Akindileni 80), Azeez (Thomas 80), Songo'o (c) (Tollitt 83), Lewis, Payne, Popov (Ogwuru 88), Nolan
Goals: Payne (32, 66), Nolan (72), Tollitt (90+8)
Booked: Lewis
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