Shrimps stand-in striker Wayn Curtis bagged a brace in this key fixture to keep Morecambe in the Conference title race.

Curtis won his place after an injury to hot-shot Robbie Talbot and two pieces of top class finishing secured a deserved three points and fourth place in the Conference.

Final score: Morecambe 2, Hayes 1.

Both sides struggled to create chances early on, with Hayes' best chance coming through a free kick from the lively Dean Clark and Morecambe's Ryan-Zico Black taking too many touches after being played in by John Norman.

The breakthrough came on 18 minutes when a seemingly innocuous ball forward from John Hardiker was completely missed by Dean Coppard.

Curtis was lurking behind the defender and found himself clean through.

His pace took him clear of the defence and he shot firmly past the advancing Bertrand Bosso in goal.

Just 50 seconds later, young Curtis repeated the trick.

John Norman squared the ball in the penalty area and Curtis shimmied, again leaving Coppard scratching his head, before shooting past Bosso at his near post.

It was, as Alan Hansen might say, terrible defending.

However, the way Curtis took both his goals was admirable, and his contribution wasn't finished yet.

Coppard appeared to have handed Morecambe a third goal just short of half time.

Dave Perkins was bursting forward on the edge of the penalty area when the defender, who had a complete nightmare until his replacement on 61 minutes, pulled Perkins down and the referee appeared to point to the spot.

However, when the dust cleared Morecambe had only received a free kick on the edge of the box, which didn't cause much damage.

The first half was one-sided, but Hayes were soon back in the game after the re-start.

Former QPR youngster Michael Currie broke clear and crossed the ball to Clark to score.

While the visitors from London created relatively few chances, they were becoming a bigger factor in the game, prompting Jim Harvey to switch his side around, pushing Dave McKearney into midfield, with substitute Andy Fensome replacing him at right back and John Norman going off to match the visitor's 4-5-1 formation.

McKearney became a big factor in the game after that and, on 40 minutes, he set off on a mazy run which took him right the way to the area before shooting just wide.

That would have put the seal on the game but, instead, Morecambe faced an edgy half hour, though Hayes failed to get a clear shot on goal.

This week the Shrimps travel to Telford for a Conference match.