By MATT DONLAN MORECAMBE'S attempts to make it three and easy were foiled on Saturday as Farnborough bored the pants off Christie Park.

Despite the Shrimps best efforts, they ran into a brick wall of Farnborough defensive stoicism and, possibly, could have lost in the end.

Jim Harvey's men had hit top form with two successive wins but hopes of a third were sent skywards as Town's defenders immediately sent any sign of danger into the clouds.

The ball may have finished with vertigo with those tactics a different kind of Farnborough air show and despite looking sharp Morecambe had little to show until the stroke of half time.

Chris Blackburn's free kick found David Perkins and the full back scurried forward before firing into the danger zone where Michael Twiss shimmied away from his man and slotted home.

It really was the only moment of quality in a first period devoid of anything close to excitement.

But instead of kicking on from that goal, Morecambe were forced onto the back foot by Farnborough after the break and when Stephen Hughes beat Adam Sollitt with a crisp shot on 50 minutes the visitors were in the ascendancy.

"In the first 15 or 20 minutes of the second half we seemed to be a little bit sluggish," admitted Morecambe assistant boss Andy Mutch. "And when they scored we found it hard to lift ourselves again.

"It was disappointing and frustrating because we played so well at Halifax the game before and we were hoping to kick on.

"But they came up here to frustrate us and managed it."

The shock of conceding the equaliser hurt Morecambe but they were unable to shift through the gears and only a fine save from Sollitt kept the score level.

He, remarkably, kept out a Tony Taggert effort on 56 minutes before the Shrimps returned from their shells.

Twiss and Garry Thompson looked dangerous and went close a couple of times but Morecambe should have won when substitute Lee Dodgson managed to scoop the ball over the bar from six yards seconds after replacing Danny Carlton.

Morecambe: Sollitt, Blackburn, Bentley, Swan, Perkins, Thompson, Walmsley, Stringfellow (Heard 54), Curtis, Carlton (Dodgson (72), Twiss. Subs not used: Howard, Hunter.

Attendance 1,287.