Woking 1 Morecambe 1 (Morecambe 4-3 on penalties)

THIS victory in the Spalding Cup was Morecambe's greatest moment in 24 years and how the team and their 300 magnificent travelling fans savoured it. Not many of those delighted supporters from Morecambe would remember when Shrimps won the FA Trophy in 1974, but that didn't matter when Brian Healy scored the penalty in a tense shoot out that meant victory. And it seemed only right that the men from Christie Park had something to show from this long, hard and eventually successful season.

The team was full of heroes but they had to work hard to secure this victory. One hero was 18-year-old Wayne Curtis who scored the equaliser from a Healy corner in the dying minutes. Then there was Steve McIlhargey who saved two of Woking's penalties while Paul Burns, John Norman and Andy Ellis scored the other penalty goals.

Woking went one nil up after 52 minutes of this entertaining encounter and looked certain to emerge as victors during long periods of the match. But McIlhargey kept them in the game with two goods saves, including one fine effort from Woking goal scorer, Hay, to keep them in the match. Then Morecambe began their fight back during which Healy saw a shot cleared of the line and any number of efforts go wide. Then came Curtis's big moment when he just flicked in the inswinging corner. The mounting tension evaporated and Morecambe's fans went wild. The period of extra time was a tight affair compared to the free flowing match although man-of-the-match Healy did see another shot cleared off the line, this time a superb 30-yard chipped effort. After the disappointment of defeat in Lancashire ATS Trophy, and 24 years of waiting for a major trophy, Morecambe's superb fans weren't didn't let this opportunity to sing their hearts out for their heroes pass.

Team: McIlhargey, Burns, Kennedy, McKearney, Mayers, Drummond, Curtis, Knowles,(Monk 69), Healy, Ceraolo (Parkinson), Norman, Hodgson.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.