Morecambe 0 Cambridge United 1

FORTRESS Christie Park was breached for the second week in succession on Saturday _ but this defeat was no repeat of the FA Cup horror show against Northwich Victoria.

Feisty Cambridge staged an immaculate smash-and-grab raid to take away three precious Nationwide Conference points despite being battered virtually non-stop in a one-sided second half.

The visitors managed just one shot on target in the whole 90 minutes but it turned out to be the match-winner from otherwise anonymous midfielder Dave Bridges.

It took Morecambe some time to get started in the game after seeing manager Jim Harvey rushed off in an ambulance suffering from chest paints barely 30 minutes before kick off.

A quick one two involving Wayne Curtis and Michael Twiss in the opening minute saw the top scorer looking like he may add to his account until centre back Mike Morrison intervened with a last-ditch tackle.

And a cross from the right by Garry Thompson was grabbed low down by grateful Cambridge keeper Scott Howie as Danny Carlton closed in on five minutes.

It took just nine minutes for Andy Duncan to become the first visitor cautioned as he brought a crude end to another Thompson charge down the right flank.

But there wqas precious little for the 1,648 crowd to get excited about until Cambridge took the lead on 18 minutes, totally against the run of play.

Bridges picked up the ball 25 yards out and seemed to be going nowhere until Dave Perkins missed his attempted tackle.

The Morecambe midfielder just got his toe to the ball and, unfortunately, his touch set it up perfectly for Bridges to hit a speculative shot from the edge of the box. Even he was surprised when it crept beyond home keeper Ryan Robinson into the bottom corner of the net.

It could have been 2-0 almost immediately as the lively Paul Atkins broke forward and was only denied when Darran Kempson Morecambe's best player on the day gave away a corner.

But that was virtually the end of Cambridge as an attacking force as Shrimps mounted wave after wave of attacks prompted by debutant Ged Brannan and the returned John Hardiker.

Cambridge showed their determination to hang on with Danny Bunce, Steve Smith and Mark Peters all finding their way into referee Mr Lewis's notebook before the break as they defended with all means at their disposal.

The closest thing to a goal came at the other end, though, as Mike Morrison's close range toe poke following a rare Cambridge corner cannoned to safety off a post.

It was totally one-sided after the break as Morecambe moved up a gear and laid virtual siege to the United goal without ever finding a decent finish.

Brannan shot woefully wide when he looked a likely scorer on 55 minutes and Curtis twice saw goalbound efforts blocked one of them by Twiss.

But with Twiss off the pace and neither Curtis nor Thompson providing real service from the flanks there was little direct threat to Howie, even after Sean O'Connor replaced Michael Howard on 73 minutes as substitute manager Steve McIlhargey tried to add extra bite up front.

When both Curtis and Perkins spurned gilt-edged chances by blasting wide when put through one-on-one with the keeper within the space of the next five minute, the writing was on the wall it was going to be just one of those days for the Shrimps.

Skipper Jim Bentley was cautioned on 81 minutes as his frustration got the better of him and he went right through Atkins. In truth, Bentley could easily have received a straight red card for the lunge which saw the Cambridge front man replaced immediately by Craig Westcarr.

There was one further twist as Danny Bunce earned a second yellow card and his marching orders for a crude foul on Thompson in stoppage time, but it was too late for Morecambe to take advantage.

MORECAMBE: Robinson 6, Hardiker 6, Kempson 8, Bentley 6 Howard 6 (O'Connor 73), Thompson 7, Brannan 6, Perkins 6, Curtis 6, Twiss 5, Thompson 7. Subs not used: Kelly, Lloyd, Walmsley, Davies