Supersub Yussuf inspires Crawley to thrilling victory

Having only come on in the 70th minute, Adi Yussuf scored once and set up the other two with all five goals coming in the final 20 minutes or so.

Goals by Yussuf, James Collins and Jimmy Smith sentenced Morecambe to their third-straight home defeat.

It wasn’t the start that Diego Lemos, the new majority Morecambe shareholder, would have wanted to see - but he would have been buoyed at the way they fought back late on and almost claimed a point.

Reds head coach Dermot Drummy named an unchanged side from the one which beat Luton town one week earlier.

It was the home side who had the better of the first half, though both teams had chances to break the deadlock.

Morecambe keeper Barry Roche pushed behind Billy Clifford’s effort from distance and, from the resulting corner, neat passing from the visitors ended with James Collins prodding wide of goal.

Roche also kept out headers from Collins and Joe McNerney, while at the other end, Crawley keeper Glenn Morris twice foiled Michael Rose.

Paul Mullin also stabbed a shot wide of goal as the half ended goalless, after which an offside flag denied Shrimps’ skipper Peter Murphy when he thought he’d headed them into the lead.

Andre Blackman and Jason Banton fired wide of Roche’s goal as the game seemed set to finish goalless before a frenetic final quarter.

Within seconds of his introduction, Yussuf seized on Kaby Djalo’s blocked shot to fire past Roche.

It was 2-0 on 83 minutes when Yussuf capitalised on some indifferent defending to roll the ball across for Collins to fire home.

Rose gave the Shrimps hope when he bent home a 20-yard free kick six minutes later, only for Yussuf to set up Jimmy Smith in the first of four added minutes.

Still the home side refused to lie down as substitute Cole Stockton lashed home a volley within seconds to make it 3-2.

There was still time for Kevin Ellison to have a shot blocked by the Crawley defence as the visitors hung on for three points.

Morecambe: Roche, Wakefield, Edwards, Winnard, Conlan, Murphy, Rose, Barkhuizen, Dunn (Massanka 78), Ellison, Mullin (Stockton 66). Not used: Nizic, McGowan, Kenyon, Molyneux, Jennings.

Crawley Town: Morris, Young, Connolly, McNerney, Blackman, Smith, Djalo, Banton (Yussuf 70), Clifford (Davey 78), Boldewijn (Bawling 90), Collins. Not used: Mersin, Arthur, Yorwerth, Tajbakhsh.

Referee: Chris Sarginson

Attendance: 1,304

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