MORECAMBE paid the penalty as they crashed out of the FA Trophy at Hereford on Tuesday night.
The Shrimps drew 1-1 after extra time, but fluffed their lines in the penalty shoot out to lose 3-1 and crash out of what looks to be a wide open field in the FA Trophy.
With the top two sides in the conference crashing out at the weekend, the road to Villa Park looked wide open, but the former football league side locked the doors on home territory after holding Morecambe to a 0-0 draw at Christie Park on Saturday.
A disputed penalty put Hereford ahead on the stroke of half time, but Stewart Drummond seemed to give Morecambe the upper hand with an equaliser on 71 minutes.
However, when it came to the shoot out, Phil Eastwood, Andy Fensome and Mark Quayle missed for the Shrimps, allowing Hereford to ease through and face Nigel Clough's Burton Albion in the next round.
Saturday's game had been a typically tense cup tie, with little quality but plenty of opportunities.
Phil Robinson could have sealed it for the Bulls, while Mark Quayle squandered a chance after he was put clean through by Ryan-Zico Black.
Morecambe will be concentrating on the league for the rest of the season -- apart from the possible Lancashire Trophy semi-final against neighbouring Lancaster.
Their bid to climb further away from the relegation zone and towards the top half of the table begins in earnest on Saturday, when Boston United make the long journey to Christie Park from Lincolnshire.
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