Yeovil Town were beaten 1-0 at home by Morecambe in Sky Bet League Two despite Shrimps keeper Barry Roche pulling off a string of fine saves.

 

In a frantic opening 45 minutes Town drew a plethora of saves from the visitors’ stopper including a Matty Dolan effort which was tipped onto the post.

 

But ten minutes after the restart the effervescent Kevin Ellison calmly slotted past Artur Krysiak, which proved to be enough to take home all three points.

 

Darren Way stuck with the side that started Tuesday’s match away at Mansfield, with the one change coming on the bench where Alex Lacey was absent having been ruled out for 6 to 8 weeks with a broken arm.

 

In a frantic opening 20 minutes, the hosts bombarded Roche’s goal, as Town’s front three wreaked havoc in the final third.

 

Neat build-up play saw Ryan Hedges get to the by-line, but his low cross somehow evaded everyone in the box before being cleared from danger in the opening exchanges.

 

Roche was soon called into action though as Kevin Dawson’s shot from the angle could only be parried away after 13 minutes, before the Irishman stung the fingertips of the Morecambe stopper with a fierce drive from all of 30 yards, minutes later.

 

The Shrimps came close to scoring when Jack Dunn’s effort was well saved by Krysiak only for the veteran Kevin Ellison to fire against the post on the rebound from inside the box.

 

But it was Way’s side who continued to press and only a fine low diving save from Roche denied Tom Eaves from close range, before the Yeovil striker saw a fizzed first time effort fly over the bar from the edge of the box.

 

The Glovers continued to dominate and hit the woodwork themselves with 38 minutes on the clock, when excellent build-up play led to Matty Dolan’s volley from an Otis Khan cross only being kept out by a combination of Roche and the base of the visitors’ post.

 

Torrential rain greeted the players for the second half and after a quiet first ten minutes of the second period, it was Jim Bentley’s Morecambe who opened the scoring.

 

Jack Dunn found Ellison inside the Glovers box and the midfielder made no mistake from 12 yards to fire past the hapless Krysiak.

 

Town almost equalised immediately, however, when neat passing on the edge of the box allowed Dolan to shot from the edge of the box, but his goal-bound effort was brilliantly tipped round the post by the ever-busy Roche.

 

Yeovil continued to press for an equaliser and introduced Tahvon Campbell and Francois Zoko just past the hour mark for Khan and Hedges.

 

Both substitutes entered the fray and flanked Eaves up front in search of an equaliser.

 

And it was Campbell who came closest for the hosts in the 90th minute when the West Brom loanee cut in from the left wing before firing at goal, only for Roche to again frustrate the home faithful with another fine save.

 

There was still time for Roche to keep his side in the match once more, this time tipping Dolan’s free-kick over the bar as Jim Bentley’s side held on for victory away from home.

 

Yeovil Town: Krysiak; Mugabi, Butcher, Smith, Dickson (Sowunmi 83’); Dawson, Lawless, Dolan; Hedges (Campbell 62’), Eaves, Khan (Zoko 62’).

Bookings: Dawson 40’.

Subs not used: Maddison, Lea, Bassett.

 

Morecambe: Roche; Wakefield, Whitmore, Kenyon, Conlan; Fleming, Rose; Barkhuizen (Molyneux 51’), Dunn (Turner 76’), Ellison; Stockton (McGowan 81’).

Bookings: Fleming 79’.

Subs not used: Nizic, Mullin.