Morecambe 1 Nuneaton 1

WITH the end of the season in sight, Morecambe's recent winning streak wavered with a draw at their meeting with Nuneaton on Easter Monday.

The Shrimps had a disappointing start and never really showed the excellent form that they have been showing of late.

The first casualty of the match was Morecambe's stalwart 'keeper Steve McIlhargey, who had to be substituted two minutes into the game with a torn muscle.

As Justin Jackson made a run, he was floored by Ged Murphy in the box. Jackson got up to take the spotkick himself, but failed to open the scoriong as 'keeper Chris Mackenzie dived superbly to turn the effort away for a a corner.

Just a few minutes later left back Mark Wright limped off the pitch, having had a run in with Nuneaton's Shaun Wray. Although Christie Park held the largest home crowd of the season, Morecambe never really took fire in this lacklustre match. John Norman came close just before half time, but Nuneaton's Steve Prindiville defended the mouth of the goal and drove the ball off the line.

After half time Morecambe got the break they had been looking for, Michael Knowles played some excellent diversionary football to send Phil Eastwood a superb cross. Eastwood, with a neat foot exchange rocketed the ball to the back of the net.

This lead was short lived and only five minutes later Drew Broughton sent the equalizer past substitute keeper Banks.

McGuire had a near miss with a superb 20 yard volley, only shortly afterwards he had to protect his own goal as Andy Thackeray threatened, but as the final whistle blew the scoreline remained unchanged at 1-1.

Team: McIlharghey (Banks 2), Fensome, McKearney, Hardiker, Wright (McGuire 16), Thompson, Knowles, Drummond (Burns 70), Eastwood, Jackson, Norman.

Jim Harvey was on duty for Northern Ireland on Wednesday night as the Shrimps took on Kingstonian