Derby County 5, Morecambe 0: Shrimps victims of a raid by the Rams

Four second half goals, and a hat-trick from David McGoldrick, gave promotion chasing Derby a 5-0 win with the Shrimps once again producing a poor performance away from the Mazuma Stadium.

Morecambe boss Derek Adams made two changes from the side that beat Bristol Rovers with Adam Mayor and Arthur Gnahoua coming into the side in place of Michael Mellon and Jacob Bedeau who dropped to the bench.

The start saw Derby enjoy the greater share of the possession with McGoldrick looking particularly dangerous with a shot that went wide and an effort that forced a save from Connor Ripley low to his right.

Morecambe’s first effort came five minutes later when Arthur Gnahoua tried his luck from distance with a shot that flew over the bar.Ripley made another neat save on 20 minutes when he tipped a Nathaniel Mendez-Laing cross to safety as the Shrimps kept Derby at bay relatively comfortably.All that was to change a minute before the break as Derby took the lead from an excellent McGoldrick free kick. After the Shrimps had given the ball away cheaply Dynel Simeu gave away a cheap set piece on the edge of the area and McGoldrick curled a well struck effort past Ripley.The Rams added to the Shrimps' woes when they doubled their advantage three minutes into the second half. Donald Love failed to cut out a Conor Hourihane cross field pass and the ball ended up with Mendez-Laing who crossed for McGoldrick to volley home from close range.McGoldrick sealed a six minute hat-trick from the spot after Simeu brought down James Collins with a clumsy challenge and the striker hammered the ball past Ripley.Ripley denied McGoldrick a fourth with a fine save but the Rams made it 4-0 on 56 minutes when James Collins smashed home after Farrend Rawson had brought down McGoldrick.Derby completed the scoring three minutes later when the unchallenged Craig Forsyth found Jason Knight who turned superbly before beating the helpless Ripley.From there the rampant home side created a number of chances with substitute Harvey White being denied a goal when his goalbound effort was blocked by his team mate Korey Smith.Ripley went on to make a number of excellent saves to keep the score to five on a day to forget for the Shrimps.

Derby County: Wildsmith, Forsyth, Hourihane (rep Thompson 74), Cashin, Collins, McGoldrick (rep White 68), Mendez-Laing (rep Barkhuizen 68), Smith, Roberts (rep Sibley 740, Dobbin, Knight (rep Springett 74).

Subs not used: McGee, Davies.