Morecambe 1 Exeter City 1. L2.

Saturday 22 November 2008.

Referee Nigel Miller

Attendance 2,003 with 208 City fans.

On the Road
with Jim Sheppard

Manny to the Rescue

Morecambe and Exeter City drew one all at Christie Park in a game that saw the Grecians extend their unbeaten league run against the Shrimps to 9 league games. The result also kept up Morecambe's impressive 2 month unbeaten home runBut that doesn't begin to tell the tale of a game in which City were second best early onfound themselves a goalthen a man downbut finally rallied and roused themselves to equalise in the dying minutes and come away with a deserved point. They even could have won it, then lost it again in injury time. City kicked off in cold but calm conditionsbut it was Morecambe who had the first chance with a shot wide after Paul Jones' goal kick had been returned to the City halfMinutes later a looped header landed on the top of City's net before City had their first chanceBut Ryan Harley's drive hit Marcus Stewart and squirted wide. Morecambe appeared more energetic than City and settled into a neat passing gameOne move saw them break down the inside right channel and as Jones came to the corner of the box he was beaten to the ball. Fortunately Steve Tully was on hand behind him to snuff out the danger at the expense of a corner From the comer Jones redeemed his lapse of judgement moments before by acrobatically tipping away Dave Artell's free header from the top corner. But 5 minutes later there was nothing he could do as Morecambe took the lead. Bertie Cozic was harried in midfield and laid a ball back to Tully which was a little shortTully did well to shuffle the ball to Danny Seaborne but the City captain then made an error as he attempted to sweep the ball back to Jones he scooped it in the air and Rene Howe nipped in to easily round Jones and slot into an empty net. City's confidence seemed to be gone for a while as Morecambe gained the upper handFred Murray was booked after a foul on Danny Carlton as City battled to get back into the game, but the only efforts on goal were coming from Morecambe. Jones saved a header and again Tully was on hand to block a shot from 12 yardsThe half time whistle came at a good time for City as they would be able to regroup and go again. Any plans though were soon scuppered as Cozic was given his marching orders 3 minutes inIt seemed the only person to see any infringement was the linesman who flagged furiously as Cozic and Craig Stanley battled for a high ballAfter the briefest of glances between the officials the red card was producedTo say it was unexpected would be a severe understatement No-one had appealed for a foul, the crowd near the incident" hadn't reacted and it looked as though Coric was merely trying to shield his position But off he went and City had to get on with it. After a Morecambe substitution the numbers should have been evened up. Jones slidin his area to easily gather a ball when he was clattered by Carlton sliding in feet first Dangerous and reckless seemed to describe the challenge, but referee Miller only saw fit to book the forward to the immense chagrin of the City fans. From the free kick City had their first chance of the half. Adam Stansfield and Stewart flicked on to Steve Bashamhowever, as he was challenged, he couldn't quite flick the ball with enough angle to beat the keeper and the post and the ball drifted a foot wide. And from this moment the game seemed to shift in momentum. Whatever Morecambe had been doing. they stopped and it seemed that City found their rhythmPreviously a little shot shy Stansfield fired wide from 20 yards, then Harley had a couple of efforts from distance go wide and blocked. Meanwhile Manny Panther had replaced Rob Edwards and Laim Sercombe, Marcus Stewartand perhaps it was this that tipped the balance in City's favour as the more attack minded players helped push Morecambe back. With fifteen to go Stansfield was mown down as he turned into space to chase a beautifully weighted ball from Basham his last contribution as he was replaced by Ben Watson. But as they pushed for an equaliser they had to be equally aware of being caught on the break. Morecambe, who had brought on a winger for a centre half at times looked like they would outnumber City when they attacked but they could not muster a worthy enough effort as the back four worked incredibly hard to keep the deficit to one. And with five minutes to go the fragility of a one goal lead was exposed and City were level. Dean Moxey, who had been a powerful presence all afternoon broke out of his penalty area and played a long ball towards Stansfield. Stansfield cleverly eased his marker under the ball and chased the ball down towards the right hand byline. As he controlled and tumed he laid the ball back to a lurking Panther on the comer of the box. He swept inside one defender and unleashed a sweet left foot curler towards the far comer. Morecambe were clearly rattled and as the game entered 3 minutes of added time Stansfield had a chance to win itHe received the ball 25 yards out, cut inside but could only fire at Roche who stood up well. At the other end one last Morecambe attack saw City defenders stretching to clear as Tully prevented the ball reaching unmarked players at the far post At the final whistle it was clear that City were happiest with the outcome but it shouldn't take away from the fact that they were handicapped by some questionable decisions

And a second report
BBC match report.

Emmanuel Panther hit a spectacular equaliser to help Exeter claim a dramatic late draw at Morecambe.

Striker Rene Howe gave Morecambe the lead after 22 minutes when he stabbed the ball past Exeter keeper Paul Jones.

Exeter's Bertrand Cozic was shown a straight red card for a foul on Craig Stanley after 48 minutes.

But five minutes from time, Panther curled a superb shot past Barry Roche from the edge of the penalty area after he was set up by Adam Stansfield.

Morecambe: Roche, Artell, Bentley (Wainwright 51), McStay, McCann, Stanley, McLachlan (O'Carroll 79), Drummond, McGivern, Howe, Carlton. 

Subs Not Used: Scott Davies, Taylor, Parrish.

Booked: Carlton, McStay.

Goals: Howe 22.

Exeter: Jones, Tully, Murray, Seaborne, Moxey, Edwards (Panther 63), Harley, Cozic, Basham (Watson 75), Stewart (Sercombe 70), Stansfield.
Subs Not Used: Marriott, Obersteller.

Sent Off: Cozic (48).

Booked: Murray, Moxey, Tully.

Goals: Panther 85.

Att: 2,003.

Ref: Nigel Miller (Durham).