Notts County Football Club

Genaro Snijders' spectacular volley wasn't enough for Notts County as Morecambe ran out 4-1 winners at the Globe Arena.

There were two enforced changes for manager Ricardo Moniz with Stanley Aborah suspended for receiving five yellow cards in the opening six games of the season whilst Elliott Hewitt picked up a hamstring injury in the 5-3 Capital One Cup defeat at Aston Villa. Thierry Audel and Haydn Hollis were recalled to the starting XI in place of the absent duo.

Notts almost opened the scoring within a minute of kick-off as Adam Campbell raced past Aaron McGowan on the left wing and into the area but his cross flashed across the face of goal, just out of Snijders' reach.

Aaron Wildig's speculative lob landed on the roof of Roy Carroll's net as Morecambe registered their first effort on goal, but it was Notts looking most likely to score. 

Graham Burke played Campbell in one-on-one with Roche, but the goalkeeper got the better of the duel, palming away the striker's low, curling effort.

Campbell was a constant threat in the early stages and had another opportunity after playing a one-two with Snijders only to weakly side-foot into the goalkeeper's gloves from the edge of the area.

Hollis' flick at the near post from Burke's corner missed Izale McLeod by inches as Moniz's men continued to dominate in the first league meeting between the sides since 2010.

Despite their superiority, Notts fell behind to a scorcher from distance. Goodall picked the ball up 25 yards from goal and unleashed an inch-perfect shot into the bottom left corner of Carroll's goal.

Notts came inches away from an equaliser on the half-hour mark when Stead traded passes with Snijders and crashed a left-footed effort off the bar from 20 yards.

Tom Barkhuizen dragged wide from distance for the hosts and Stead mis-hit a shot through a crowd of players for a goal kick at the other end as the sides traded chances.

Campbell used his pace well to chase a lost cause and his cut-back from the byline was put over the bar by a combination of McLeod and Morecambe defender Adam Dugdale.

Notts struck a spectacular and deserved equaliser just before the break. Audel strode out of defence and played in Gill Swerts, who shimmied between players and hit a shot which was blocked into the air by a defender. Snijders ran onto the ball and crashed a sensational 25-yard volley into the bottom corner to level the scores.

An incisive pass by Mawouna Amevor slipped Snijders in behind the full-back and the Dutchman's cross found Burke, who looked certain to score but for Andrew Fleming throwing himself in the way of the shot.

Stead nodded Campbell's cross wide at the near post whilst Jamie Devitt slashed wildly off-target as both sides stayed committed to an open game.

Former Bradford striker Stead came close again, twisting his body with his back to goal to meet Campbell's cross and get a shot in which flashed past Roche's upright.

As with the first half, Morecambe scored against the run of play to take the lead. Half-time substitute Mullin was allowed to advance towards goal and, after skipping past a couple of challenges, curled past Carroll into the top corner despite the goalkeeper getting a hand on the ball.

Campbell fired over the top, his last meaningful contribution before being replaced by Julian Jenner with 13 minutes remaining.

Lee Molyneux's ambitious free-kick from 50 yards was palmed down and collected by Carroll and Swerts blocked Fleming's cross from a quick Morecambe break stemming from a Notts free-kick.

The game was made safe for the hosts by a late double-salvo. First, Kenyon broke into the area and slammed through Carroll's legs before Devitt was sent clear and slotted beyond the exposed goalkeeper for the fourth Morecambe goal.

Burke tried to lower the deficit with a shot from 40 yards which was comfortably held by Roche as Notts fell to their second league defeat of the season.

Notts: Carroll; Amevor, Hollis, Sprockel, Audel (Valencic, 85); Snijders, Swerts, Burke, Campbell (Jenner, 77); Stead, McLeod. 
Subs not used: Loach, Edwards, Atkinson, Smith, Spencer. 

Attendance: 1,621 (459 away)