Morecambe 1-2 Wednesday

WEDNESDAY progressed to the second round of the FA Cup thanks to a 2-1 victory in a tricky tie at npower League Two side Morcambe.

Goals from Chris Lines and Chris O’Grady put the Owls on their way to what looked set to be comfortable progression into the next round before the Shrimps made it a nail-biting finish thanks to Laurence Wilson’s penatly just after the hour mark.

The television cameras where there to see Wednesday crash out, but they held on despite a final flourish from the hosts to book a home date against either Aldershot or Maidenhead in the next round.

Wednesday were without loan duo Stephen Bywater and Ben Marshall due to their respective loan arrangements, although fellow loanee Danny Batth was allowed to play by parent club Wolves. It meant Richard O’Donnell came in between the sticks and Jermaine Johnson started in place of Marshall. Reda Johnson also started at centre-back in place of captain Rob Jones, while Julian Bennett played at left-back.

Many would have expected the hosts to come flying out of the traps but the Owls started in pretty comfortable fashion, having much of the ball but not really troubling the Morecambe goal.

Lewis Buxton issued the first shot on goal for the visitors, but, after a pretty dull opening 15 minutes, the game burst into life with perhaps the move of the match.

Lines played a neat one-two with O’Grady and the former Bristol Rovers man lined up his effort before planting a curling low effort into the bottom corner to give Wednesday a lead they deserved in the 18th minute.

Wednesday should have been given the opportunity to double their lead not long after after Gary Madine was felled inside the box with the goal at his mercy, but the referee waved away the protests and Morecambe lived to fight on.

The hosts struggled to carve out chances though and O’Donnell was relatively untroubled in goal until five minutes before half-time when Garry Hunter struck from distance but the Owls stopper always had it covered.

Half-Time: Morecambe 0-1 Wednesday

Morecambe had clearly had words about their poor first-half showing in the dressing room at the interval and came out with much more purpose on the resumption, forcing the Wednesday defence into some work.

Wilson fired a warning shot when his long-range effort struck the crossbar with O’Donnell seemingly beaten.

But for Morecambe’s good start, Wednesday still looked the side in control and saw another good claim for a penalty fall on deaf ears when a Morecambe defender seemed to handle the ball inside the box.

And they put one foot firmly in the second round when they added a second eight minutes after the restart. James O’Connor provided a teasing cross for O’Grady to head into the back of the net, with the Shrimps goalkeeper not exactly covering himself in glory.

That was until the hosts gave themselves a lifeline less than ten minutes later. While the Owls failed with their penalty claims, Morecambe succeeded as Lines was adjudged to have harshly handled the ball inside the box. Wilson stepped up to reduce the deficit and make it game on.

The goal gave the League Two side a huge boost and they threatened O’Donnell soon after when McDonald flashed an effort towards goal.

At the other end, O’Grady came a whisker away from restoring the Owls’ two-goal advantage and Lines again tried his luck from long range but saw his effort drift wide of goal.

The hosts always had a chance with just a goal in it and O’Donnell was relieved to see Lewis Alessandra’s effort deflected the wrong side of his post. He was even more relieved in the last night when McDonald saw an effort chalked off by the officials for offside after the Wednesday stopper initially saved a Phil Jevons strike.

Wednesday hung and will now host either Aldershot or Maidenhead in round two at Hillsborough.

Full-Time: Morecambe 1-2 Wednesday

Morecambe: Roche, Fenton, Reid (Alessandra 80), Hunter (Jevons 59), Ellison, McCready, Drummond, McDonald, Wilson, Parrish (Haining 59), Carlton. Unused substitutes: Routhledge, Fleming, Charnock, Price.

Wednesday: O’Donnell, Buxton, Batth, R Johnson, Bennett, O’Connor, Lines, Semedo, J Johnson (Sedgwick 70), Madine, O’Grady. Unused substitutes: Jameson, Reynolds, Prutton, Coke, Lowe, Morrison.