Sercome’s slice of luck puts Robins in the mood

MICHAEL Duff was delighted with Cheltenham’s rare away victory at relegation-threatened Morecambe.

A game of few opportunities came to life a minute before the break when Robins’ midfielder Liam Sercombe tried his luck from 25 yards out with a speculative right-foot effort that took a wicked deflection to loop over Trevor Carson and into the roof of the Shrimps’ goal.

Cheltenham scored a second two minutes into the second half when Elliot Bonds’s shot on the turn was well saved by Carson but Callum Wright was there to score from three yards out.

Morecambe almost produced a quickfire response with Shane McLoughlin, Anthony O’Connor and Cole Stockton all seeing goalbound shots blocked before Greg Leigh made it 2-1 after 52 minutes with a close-range finish from Stockton’s cross.

Two minutes later Morecambe were denied a clear penalty when Dylan Connolly was upended by Charlie Raglan.

At the other end Carson made a stunning save to tip Matty Blair’s close range effort before Owen Evans saved smartly from Stockton’s 69th minute shot that was heading for the bottom right hand corner.

Cheltenham sealed the points with Alfie May scoring his 21st goal of the season ten minutes from time when unmarked at the far post after Sercombe scuffed his shot.

Duff said: “It’s the first time we have won away from home in four months and it was brilliant to get the win.

“It was never going to be a pretty game with the state of the league and the state of the pitch and the amount that was on it. We scored a good goal at a good time and added a second quickly and then they did what we expected them to do and put us under pressure because they are fighting and scrapping for their lives.’’

Morecambe manager Derek Adams, who watched the game from the stands as he served a one-match touchline ban, said: “It was a disappointing result and we conceded disappointing goals.

“We have conceded 70 goals this season so it is not hard to identify where our problems are.

“That has been the issue all season and although we gave it a go we can’t be as poor as we were today at the back.”