Gravesend and Northfleet 2 Morecambe 1 INJURY-ravaged Morecambe saw their long unbeaten away record in the Conference shattered as an enthralling set-to between the two best footballing sides in the league turned on two appalling refereeing decisions.

The Shimps saw their hopes of a 10th away win rocked by the man in the middle - but Fleet were equally frustrated by Cambridge whistler Gary Lewis, an official who would surely be better suited to Hackney Marshes than a Conference clash in Kent.

Lewis infuriated Morecambe as he awarded an early penalty to Gravesend when even home boss Liam Daish thought there had been no offence.

And then the referee chose to book Jason Walker for a penalty area dive when Morecambe's Flookburgh flier hit the deck while trying to avoid a collision with the head of home keeper Luke McShane - who was in the act of attempting to haul the striker down.

It looked like a penalty - but it was a game breaking moment on a day the home side worked overtime to get the game on when it seemed the elements would rule otherwise.

Snow covered the pitch on Thursday, that was cleared and then a power cut in the Thames-side town meant the kick-off was brought forward by 30 minutes.

Pity that all that work went in as Adam Yates missed out with a tweaked hamstring and Chris Blackburn, who had been ill overnight, played until being forced off with a knee injury before the break.

With Danny Carlton, Jamie Burns and Fraser McLachlan out the Shrimps are down to the bare bones and Ged Brannan and Neil Sorvel played with knocks.

To add to the problems, Michael Twiss finished the game hobbling on one leg after suffering a number of meaty challenges and Craig Stanley was also limping.

Given the problems it was perhaps surprising that Morecambe started well as they took the game to Gravesend - but they were stunned after eight minutes when Lewis decreed that Jim Bentley had fouled Charlie MacDonald.

It was a nothing' incident as MacDonald spun and fell over and the Gravesend bench could barely believe the penalty award. It is impolite to refuse gifts and MacDonald rolled the ball home from 12 yards.

Morecambe were in no mood to roll over and they drew level just four minutes later as Stanley's corner was only half cleared back to the midfielder and he struck a thunderbolt of a volley from a tight angle that left McShane grasping thin air.

It was a sweet strike from the England non-league skipper and for the next 10 minutes the Shrimps were all over the home side.

But Gravesend are a good team and former Charlton Athletic man Mark Debolla forced Michael Howard into a smart bit of defending before he flicked on for MacDonald to race clear only to be beaten to the ball by Steven Drench.

Stanley arched a 30-yarder just wide before Lewis struck again, awarding the Shrimps a completely bonkers free-kick 18 yards out after Twiss was fairly tackled.

A deflection took Garry Thompson's strike out for a corner and from the resulting kick that man Debolla was back in the mix to clear the danger.

Then came the real turning point as Walker, who was quiet on his debut, raced onto Stanley's clever pass. McShane was out quickly to his feet but made a grab for the striker, who then jumped out of a collision.

Penalty, surely. No, Lewis pulled out the yellow card and waved it at Walker for a dive. It was a shocking decision - sorry, just one of a number of shocking decisions.

Ex-Premier League referee Paul Durkin, the match assessor, was making so many notes about the performance of Lewis that he could have been writing War and Peace. Quite simply, on Saturday's display, the preening Lewis is way out of his depth in the Conference.

But for all that, he couldn't be blamed for the Gravesend winner on 53 minutes as Drench decided to stay on his line when a Luke Moore cross entered his six-yard box and Michael Howard was powerless to prevent Joel Ledgister volleying home.

It was a blot on the Drench copybook, especially as he had denied MacDonald with a fabulous save just before the break.

Morecambe desperately battled to get back into the game and Sascha Opinel went into the book for an assault worthy of a red card on Thompson. Garry Hunter also escaped with a booking later on for a late lunge, and Twiss, still deadly even on one leg, beat four men on a run only to see his goal-bound shot cleared by Paul McCarthy.

But this wasn't to be Morecambe's day and even when Howard forced a stoppage time corner, nine Morecambe shirts in the box couldn't convert.