Mansfield Town 0 - 1 Morecambe: Andrew Fleming early strike enough to give Morecambe victory at Mansfield

Posted Tuesday, December 27, 2016 by PA

Andrew Fleming's 13th-minute strike proved enough for Morecambe to pull off a 1-0 win at Mansfield and settle a disappointing game.

The Stags have yet to score at home in a first half all season and, although they struck the post after the break, they rarely looked like scoring as they went a third game without finding the net.

Morecambe took the lead when Rhys Turner got down the left and squared an inviting ball to Peter Murphy, who saw his fierce shot well parried by Scott Shearer with Fleming quickest to react to poke home the loose ball from five yards.

Mansfield pressed for an equaliser and racked up eight first-half corners, but struggled to create clear openings, though Matt Green forced Barry Roche to tip over a 26th-minute header from Ashley Hemmings' cross, while Pat Hoban fired wide from 18 yards from Green's nod-down.

Hoban then had a fierce shot parried at the near post soon after the break.

Substitute Danny Rose almost levelled within two minutes of joining the action as he hit a post with his follow-up after Roche had blocked a powerful Kyle Howkins shot on 63 minutes.

But the visitors saw out the rest of the game in comfort.