Aldershot 4 Morecambe 0: Bank holiday misery for Shrimps
Morecambe suffered a heavy defeat as four second-half goals gave Aldershot victory at the EBB Stadium.
After the joy and exertions of Saturday's victory over Altrincham, the new-look Shrimps perhaps understandably struggled to keep pace with the home side, who showed why they are the National League's top scorers with goals from James Clarridge, Archy Taylor, Josh Barrett and Dejan Tetek.
Ashvir Singh Johal made two changes from the side that beat Altrincham on Saturday with Daniel Ogwuru and Ma'kel Campbell coming in for Luke Hendrie and Ben Williams, who both dropped to the bench.
Aldershot started brightly with Tristan Abrahams testing Archie Mair with a well struck shot in the ninth minute that the keeper saved, before the Shrimps hit back with a shot that was deflected wide from Taylor.
Abrahams continued to look lively and forced Mair into another decent save on 25 minutes after running ahead of the Morecambe defence.
The Shrimps, with their lack of training and preparation, looked leggy from the start and struggled to make headway against the home side but Harry Panayiotou did get the ball in the net on 37 minutes, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.
The closest the Shots came to an opener was seconds before the break when Mair let a Josh Barrett effort squirm through his grasp, only for the Shrimps keeper to recover in time to stop the ball from going over the line.
Aldershot's pressure paid off when they took the lead in the 53rd minute with a sloppy goal.
A weak shot came in from Watford loanee Clarridge that went through the legs of Mair, who may have been distracted by the presence of Kwame Thomas in his line of sight in the box.
It was 2-0 just before the hour after when Taylor stabbed the ball home after the Shrimps defence failed to clear a cross from Haby Ghandour.
Morecambe looked to hit back with Marcus Dewhurst saving well from Gwion Edwards and Shots' defender Will Nightingale producing a last-gasp block from the resulting corner to deny Daniel Ogwuru a second goal of the season as he looked set to score from close range.
It was Aldershot who scored next, however, when Barrett was played in on goal and produced a deflected finish to beat Mair in the 80th minute.
Two minutes later the hosts added a fourth when Tetek's shot hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced over the line to rub salt into Morecambe's tired wounds.
Aldershot: Dewhurst, Clarridge, Nightingale, Meerholz, Hargreaves, Abrahams (Ghandour 56), Tetek (Anderson 84), Hill (Henry 84), Thomas (Rai 71), Barrett, Taylor. Subs not used: Mullins, Nash, Watson.
Booked: Abrahams, Barrett, Hill.
Morecambe: Mair, Campbell (Wright 90), Francilette, Conte, Songo'o, Cain, Lewis (Hendrie 57) Edwards, Tollitt (Williams 68), Ogwuru (Dobson 90), Panayiotou. Subs not used: Scales, Goodyear.
Booked: Tollitt, Lewis.
Ref: B Atkinson.
Att: 2,371. (167 Morecambe)