Morecambe 1, Plymouth Argyle 3: ​Shrimps rocked by Argyle fightback

The Shrimps, who matched their opponents for long periods, had the best possible start after taking an early lead through Jensen Weir but three second-half goals after the hour mark from Argyle substitutes Danny Mayor, Ben Waine and Jay Matete gave the visitors the points to leave the Shrimps five points from safety with five games to go.

Morecambe boss Derek Adams handed Josh Austerfield his full debut in place of Oumar Niasse and Ryan Delaney came in for Jacob Bedeau in the two Shrimps' changes from their 5-0 defeat at Barnsley last weekend.

Plymouth started on the front foot with James Wilson seeing a left footed shot from a difficult angle on the left saved in the bottom left corner by Connor Ripley.

But it was Morecambe who struck first with Weir latching on to Dan Crowley's superb through ball to give Adams the perfect start against his former club after a swift counter attack.

Weir tried his luck again on 12 minutes with a shot that flew over the bar as the home side looked the more threatening.

Plymouth were restricted to two speculative efforts from Sam Cosgrove and an effort from Tyreik Wright that flew over the bar before the break as the Shrimps turned round a goal to the good and looking relatively comfortable.

The Shrimps' resistance was finally broken however, just after the hour as substitute Mayor made an almost immediate impact. The former Bury midfielder had been on the field for just five minutes after replacing Matt Butcher and found the target with a right foot curler from outside the area that found the bottom corner of Ripley's goal.

The goal gave the visitors a lift and they went close to taking the lead on 71 minutes when Ryan Hardie flicked a header from a corner that was well tipped over by Ripley.

The Shrimps hit back with a superb strike from Donald Love on 84 minutes whistling past the post.

Morecambe's hopes of a late winner were dashed as Argyle took the points with a goal six minutes from time when Waine stroked the ball past Ripley after being found by Jay Matete.

To add salt to the Shrimps' wounds Plynouth made itr 3-1 in added time when Matete scored with a right footed shot from the right side of the box that found the bottom left hand corner and took Argyle to the top of League One.

Morecambe: Ripley, Rawson, Simeu (rep Niasse 90), Delaney, Love, Austerfield, Gibson, Souare (rep Mayor 90), Weir, Stockton, Crowley (rep Wats 71). Subs not used: Smith, Taylor, Gnahoua, Cooney.

Plymouth: Burton, Wilson, Scarr, Galloway, Edwards (rep Mumba 75), Houghton (rep Matete 84), Butcher, (rep Mayor 57) Miller (rep C Wright 75), Wright, Cosgrove (rep Waine 56), Hardie. Subs not used: Parkes, Lonwijke.

Ref: M Edwards.