Morecambe 1 Crawley Town 0

The lethal right boot of Garry Thompson fired Morecambe right into the play-off mix as he struck in style to sink Crawley Town.

The goal gave the Shrimps sweet revenge for a 4-0 thumping at Broadhall Way back in October - and if they had taken half of their chances on Saturday they could have reached double figures.

One goal from 18 attempts is not the best return. But at this stage of the season the only thing that matters is the final score and at least the Shrimps are creating their chances despite an increasingly difficult Christie Park playing surface.

That bobbly pitch is a real pain in the grass to boss Sammy McIlroy - but his players are adapting their game to it, although at times attempts to play a sharp passing style approached the farcical, especially when the odd shower blew in to add to the fun.

The Shrimps, though, were in no mood to throw away the chance of a second home win on the trot, no mean feat in this topsy-turvey season, and the dangerous Matty Blinkhorn showed early threat before Thompson's pace saw him dance beyond Darius Charles to feed Adam Yates on six minutes.

Yates swung over the perfect cross only for Danny Carlton to balloon high over the bar from six yards. It should have been 1-0.

Then Craig Stanley tried to find Neil Sorvel with a rolled pass across the boggy midfield...bad move. Scott Rendell, who blasted a hat-trick against the Shrimps in October, raced clear and seemed certain to give Crawley an undeserved lead.

But Stanley realised his error and when Rendell tried to get his shot off, Morecambe's midfield star was back to block it out to touch.

Blinkhorn then could have scored following a Stanley free-kick before the Shrimps went as close as you can without taking the lead after some sumptuous play from Sorvel.

He was shaping to pass or shoot to any number of him team-mates but deceived the lot with the most gorgeous of floated passes over the defence to Thompson, who in turn hit a beautiful low shot.

It beat keeper Ben Hamer all ends up but rebounded to safety off the foot of the far post. It was unlucky but the same couldn't be said a couple of minutes later when Blinkhorn's radar let him down as he headed wide from a matter of feet.

The Stanley and Thompson combined to set up Wayne Curtis but he saw his shot smothered by Hamer before Carlton's audacious 25-yard lob was close to beating Hamer until the wind held it up in the air.

Morecambe keeper Steven Drench almost came a cropper on 32 minutes when he stayed on his line as the ball whipped into his six-yard box and was relieved to see Danny Adams hoof clear before the Shrimps went ahead in style two minutes later.

Curtis did well on the left and played inside to Stanley. He considered shooting from 35-yards - but that ploy worked as a dummy as he passed wide to Thompson in a carbon copy position to earlier.

This time his shot was curling and stunning - and just inside the post to give Hamer no chance.

He then tried his luck from distance as Stanley set him up again only to be denied by a sprawling stop from Hamer, and then Carlton missed his kick in front of goal as Blinkhorn did well to make an opening.

Crawley blustered into life and made things slightly difficult for the Morecambe defence in the latter stages on the first period but there was no real threat until a bad bobble left Drench red faced as he kicked fresh air - but skipper Jim Bentley had dropped in behind him to clear the danger.

Carlton was denied by a save just after the break and Curtis also saw a shot pushed away before Thompson cleared the North Stand with a cross.

Then Carlton went through one-on-one with Hamer but his lob drifted horribly wide of the target.

Dave Woozley cleared off the line after a Michael Howard cross from Stanley's free-kick appeared to be going in off Blinkhorn's backside and Thompson went close with a volley from a Carlton corner before Drench did well to push Lee Blackburn's cheeky free-kick for a corner at the other end.

The Morecambe stopper also did well to punch a corner clear under pressure as Crawley sensed a way back thanks to Morecambe's profligacy and Danny Bulman volleyed over from 20 yards - but that was a rare threat and the Shrimps finished on top.

Make no mistake, it was a big win and nothing less than deserved against an awkward side...and one goal is as good as 10.