EFL Cup 1st Round
Rotherham United 4-5 Morecambe (After Extra Time)
Halford 59 pen Stockton 6
Yates 81,120 Dunn 68, 90+2, 118
Forde 83 Ellison 113
Morecambe were victorious against Championship side Rotherham United in an entertaining EFL Cup tie that included nine goals last night at the New York Stadium.
Liverpool loanee Jack Dunn stole the headlines after coming off the bench and scoring an impressive hat-trick, whilst Cole Stockton and Kevin Ellison were also in the goals column for the Shrimps along with Greg Halford, Jerry Yates and Anthony Forde for the hosts.
Jim Bentley’s side started the game brightly, and came close to taking the lead five minutes into the game when Alex Kenyon latched on the end of Michael Rose’s corner but his colleague Cole Stockton stopped the ball in its tracks, getting in the way of the ball unintentionally.
Stockton made up for it, just a minute later as he took the lead for the League 2 side. Tom Barkhuizen blocked Greg Halford’s clearance and the ball made its way to the unmarked Tranmere loanee, who buried the ball in the bottom right-hand corner past Lewis Price to put the underdogs in front.
From then onwards, the game was looking very end-to-end but it was the home side that looked the more likely to score. Winger Jon Taylor had a shot blocked by Kenyon in the twelfth minute and he also hit the crossbar for the Millers in the 14th minute.
Rotherham had much of the possession in the first half, but the Shrimps defended well and had a couple of chances to double their lead just before the break. Following Celtic loanee Scott Allan tackling one of his own players, the Shrimps tried to capitalise on the home side’s mistake and Lee Molyneux found himself with the ball in the box but he wasn’t able to shoot as he was tackled quickly. Tom Barkhuizen looked threatening on the right-hand side for the Shrimps and he had two very similar chances in the 44th minute, cutting in to the box and blasting the ball at Price but the former Crystal Palace keeper saved with his legs both times. Morecambe went in leading at the break.
Seven minutes into the second half, Barkhuizen looked threatening again using his pace to beat the full back and he had another shot at Price but the keeper saved and then Cole Stockton was unable to slot home, instead shooting over the crossbar.
Rotherham went onto push for an equaliser, and they earnt themselves a penalty when captain Greg Halford was brought down in the box by Ryan Edwards. Halford took the resultant penalty, and buried it coolly into the left hand corner, with Roche diving the other way, to put Alan Stubbs’ side back on level terms.
The stalemate only lasted ten minutes however as Lee Molyneux made a threatening run along the left hand side, and his through ball went through the legs of Greg Halford to substitute Jack Dunn who blasted it into the top corner in the 68th minute to put the Shrimps in front again with just his second touch since coming on.
Rotherham were immediately searching for another equaliser, and striker Jerry Yates came close and finding himself in space but his shot went wide in the 72nd minute.
Morecambe had a number of chances to put the game to bed with Jack Dunn almost getting his second of the evening with a powerful left-footed shot in the 75th minute that was well saved by Lewis Price to his left, and then Lee Molyneux hitting a powerful free kick that hit the back post in the 80th minute.
Just two minutes later however, Rotherham were back in the game as Jon Taylor found an unmarked Jerry Yates who blasted the ball past Roche to make it 2-2.
Morecambe looked to have given the game away quickly after, as Anthony Forde made a cracking run and put the ball in the top corner in the 83rd minute to put the Millers in front for the first time of the evening.
With time quickly running out, Tom Barkhuizen came close to making it 3-3 with a left-footed effort that was saved by Lewis Price.
The fourth official then indicated that there would be five minutes of injury time, and Morecambe got themselves a lifeline in the second minute of added time as Jack Dunn was brought down in the box by Richard Wood. Dunn stepped up to take the penalty and he placed it down the middle, with Price diving to the right, sending the game to extra time with the score at 3-3.
In the first half of extra time, Rotherham came close with Danny Ward shooting wide and Anthony Forde having a shot blocked well by Shrimps defender Whitmore.
However in the second half of extra time Morecambe had the better of the chances with Molyneux shooting just wide in the 111th minute. Just moments later, Jim Bentley’s side went in front for the third time of the evening through veteran forward Kevin Ellison. Michael Rose put a long ball in from a free kick near the halfway line, which Jack Dunn managed to get hold of and his shot came off the keeper and former Rotherham man Ellison was able to score the rebound with the score now at 4-3 to Morecambe.
Five minutes later, Morecambe extended their lead through the very effective Jack Dunn. Michael Rose started the move with an excellent ball down the line to Ellison, who flicked the ball past Thorpe and then played the ball to Jack Dunn who striked the ball bast Price to get his first hat-trick in professional football.
The action wasn’t over there though, as the home side got a fourth through Jerry Yates leading to a tense last two minutes as the Millers looked to get a fifth in order to send the game to penalties. Morecambe defended well though, and were awarded with their first EFL Cup victory in three years in what has been dubbed as the ‘game of the round’.
The Shrimps face Blackpool in their next game, which is at the Globe Arena on Saturday.
Rotherham United: Price, Thorpe, Halford (c), Wilson (Wood 46), Warren, Vaulks, Allan (Forde 76), Smallwood, Forster-Caskey (Ward 63), Yates, Taylor.
Booked: Wood
Subs not used: Camp, Kelley, Bailey-King, Muskwe
Morecambe: Roche, Wakefield, Whitmore, Edwards, Conlan, Barkhuizen, Kenyon (Fleming 87), Rose (c), Molyneux, Mullin (Dunn 63), Stockton (Ellison 88).
Booked: Edwards, Wakefield.
Subs not used: Nizic, McGowan
Attendance: 3,793 (118 away)
James Main 