Morecambe 0 Colchester United 1: Shrimps' wait for a home win goes on

Arthur Read’s first-half free-kick gave the visitors three points and dashed the Shrimps’ hopes of a first home win since the end of October.

Brannan was forced to make two changes to the side that beat MK Dons, Charlie Brown and Kayden Harrack replacing the injured Joel Senior and suspended Adam Mayor.

The Shrimps started the game well with Jake Taylor drilling a low shot wide before the visitors, with Jayden Fevrier causing all sorts of problems down the left-hand side, saw Tom Hopper denied by superb blocks from Farrend Rawson and Harrick.

The telling moment of the game came on 27 minutes when the visitors were awarded a free-kick 25 yards out and Read curled a superb effort into the top corner.

Morecambe thought they had won a penalty on 39 minutes when Brown was bundled over in the box by Connor Hall, only for referee Daniel Middleton to wave away their claims.

They did get a spot-kick 50 seconds after the restart when Riley Harbottle brought down Taylor with a clumsy tackle.

However, Ged Garner missed the chance to level the scores as his effort was well saved by Owen Goodman.

The home side thought they had levelled on 54 minutes when Jacob Bedeau volleyed home, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

After a poor first half, the Shrimps were on the front foot for most of the second period but struggled to create clear-cut chances until the final moments of the game.

Rawson headed over and Bedeau went close in stoppage time, failing to find the target with a far post effort from close range.

Morecambe: Mair, Bedeau, Rawson, Stokes, Songo’o (Melbourne 60), Harrack (Tutonda 60), Brown, Slew (Barker 46), Adams (C Smith 84), Taylor, Garner (Fox-Akande 84). Subs not used: Adam Smith, Threlkeld.

Colchester United: Goodman, Richardson, Harbottle (Dallison 72), Hall, Iandolo, Read, Alistair Smith, McGeehan (Jay 88), Chilvers (Wilkinson 62), Fevrier (Anderson 72) Hopper (Akinde 88). Subs not used: Hornby, Edwards.

Referee: Daniel Middleton.

Attendance: 3,383.