THE Shrimps progressed into the next round with yet another penalty shoot-out success at Oldham Athletic.

Andy Parrish kept his cool to slot home the winning penalty after the shoot-out had gone to sudden death.

The Shrimps won two shoot-outs in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy last season and looked set to do the same after David Artell, Diarmuid O'Carroll and Paul Lloyd had scored.

But Stewart Drummond, who had scored in normal time to take the game to penalties, fired over and Neil Wainwright had his effort saved forcing sudden death with Oldham's Neal Eardley and Chris O'Grady also missing, Eardley's shot being saved by Barry Roche.

Garry Hunter found the bottom corner, as did Kelvin Lomas, but when Lewis Alessandra missed for the home side, the stage was set for Parrish to be Morecambe's hero.

In an absorbing game, Oldham went ahead just before the hour after a neat move down the left saw Craig Davies slide the ball across for Danny Whitaker to powerfully sidefoot the ball into the bottom corner.

But the League One side were soon pegged back with Jim Bentley unlucky not to score, the defender's header looping agonisingly onto the far post on the hour mark.

It only took five more minutes for Morecambe to equalise with an impressive goal from recalled midfielder Drummond.

Neil Wainwright linked with Garry Hunter and he played in Diarmuid O'Carroll whose first-time cross was volleyed past Craig Fleming at the far post by a jubilant Drummond.

As heavy rain descended on Boundary Park, it was the Shrimps who were on top with Rene Howe turning sharply and firing a shot that Fleming had to push wide on the near post.

The game went into a lull for a period as the game headed towards penalties with neither side able to create a clear opening as the conditions deteriorated rapidly.

In the first half, it was amazing that neither side managed to find the net after 45 minutes of open football peppered with opportunities for both sides.

In a lively opening, O'Carroll almost marked his first start for Morecambe with a cracking effort but his low free-kick from 20 yards flew past keeper Fleming's near post.

The home side then had two great chances to open the scoring around the 10-minute mark, the first coming after a horrendous back pass by Stewart Drummond.

Instead of finding Roche, the ball went straight to Lee Hughes, bearing down on Roche's goal, but the prolific striker only succeeding in hitting the outside of the post.

Two minutes later, Oldham had another chance when Neal Eardley whipped the ball across for Deane Smalley but the winger's close-range effort hit Roche and was cleared.

Oldham applied the bulk of the pressure with the Shrimps defence forced to make a series of clearances and Roche needing to be alert, his best save coming on the half hour when he turned a Whitaker long-range effort around the post.

Lewis Alessandra – on for Hughes – should have hit the target but saw a header saved by Roche and somehow turned the ball over the bar after a lethal cross from Craig Davies.

Despite being on the back foot for a long spell, Morecambe rallied and should have registered at least once before the interval.

Wayne Curtis poked the ball wide before Drummond played a superb pass to put O'Carroll in on goal only for Fleming to get a hand to the striker's flicked effort, forcing the ball wide.

Both sides had to make first-half substitutions with Hughes being replaced by Alessandra and Michael Howard, only recently back from a hamstring injury, coming off for Ryan McCann, Parrish switching to left-back.

Sammy McIlroy made five changes from the Dagenham loss, giving starts to O'Carroll after his goal on Saturday as well as Drummond, Garry Hunter, Howard and Parrish.

Morecambe: Roche, Parrish, Bentley, Artell, Howard (McCann 29), Wainwright, Drummond, Hunter, Curtis (Lloyd 68), O'Carroll, Howe. Subs: McLachlan, Taylor, Davies.

Oldham Athletic: Fleming, Eardley, Hazell, Stam (O'Grady 74), Lomax, Smalley (Lee 74), Allott, Maher, Whitaker, Hughes (Alessandra 22), Davies. Subs: Crossley, Stephens.

Referee: C L Pawson.
Attendance: 2,016 (including 142 from Morecambe)