Full TimeSecond Half ends, Exeter City 3, Morecambe 2.Cole Stockton (Morecambe) hits the right post with a right footed shot from outside the box.Post updateAttempt missed. Cole Stockton (Morecambe) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right.Post updateAttempt blocked. Jay Stansfield (Exeter City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.Post updateAttempt saved. Cole Stockton (Morecambe) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.Post updateAttempt missed. Daniel Crowley (Morecambe) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left.Post updateJay Stansfield (Exeter City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.Post updateFoul by Farrend Rawson (Morecambe).Post updateAttempt blocked. Jay Stansfield (Exeter City) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.Post updateJay Stansfield (Exeter City) hits the left post with a left footed shot from outside the box.
Jay Stansfield’s hat-trick sealed Morecambe’s relegation from League One as he led Exeter City to victory over the Shrimps at St James Park. Cole Stockton replied soon after following a defensive error, but Stansfield blasted home left-footed from 10 yards after a Morecambe mistake to see Exeter retake the lead, before hitting a right-footed effort from 12 yards for an emotional third to end his time at St James Park in style. Stockton scored a consolation goal in the last of 14 minutes of stoppage time. Morecambe were relegated alongside Accrington and Milton Keynes Dons after Cambridge United’s win at Forest Green saw them survive.
Exeter ensured they did not register a club-record seventh successive league defeat as they ended their first season back in League One in 14th place. Morecambe started well, with Farrend Rawson having a header saved by Jamal Blackman and Daniel Crowley firing just wide from the edge of the box in the opening 15 minutes. Exeter had more than two thirds of the first-half possession but only had a blocked shot from Demetri Mitchell and a Will Aimson volley from a corner than flew high over the bar to show for it.
Morecambe almost went behind a minute into the second period when Mitchell’s cross deflected off Jacob Bedeau and Connor Ripley did well to save. Stansfield had an effort blocked a minute before he got the opener, as Sam Nombe picked the ball up on the penalty spot and fed Stansfield on the left who blasted low into the bottom right corner. But Morecambe replied almost immediately as Jensen Weir’s high hopeful ball upfield was allowed to drop by Aimson and Stockton nodded it over Blackman for a gift of a goal. Nombe blazed over a minute later but Exeter did not have to wait long to go in front as a cross into the box was not dealt with by Morecambe and Stansfield fired home. The 20-year-old completed his hat-trick when he swept in Josh Key’s cross from the right from 12 yards out to pay an emotional farewell to the Grecians.
Stansfield’s father Adam was a striker at the club and passed away from cancer aged 31, and Jay came through Exeter’s youth ranks before moving to Fulham as a teenager. There was disbelief at the 14 minutes of added time – Morecambe knew they were going down, having heard about Cambridge’s result. But Stockton ended with a seventh goal in four games when he smashed into the top corner.
Morecambe surprised many when they won promotion to League One through the play-offs at Wembley two years ago, in front of a reduced crowd because of Covid. The crowds eventually returned. As did boss Derek Adams, having initially left for a short spell with Bradford after taking the Shrimps into the third tier. Adams worked his magic after his return, keeping Morecambe in League One on the final day of last season when many had tipped them to go straight back down to League Two.
But the realities of competing in a league with some huge names began to bite, with the club being put up for sale by owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring at the start of this campaign. Whittingham and Goldring stepped down from the board shortly before rugby union side Worcester Warriors – which they also owned – went into administration, resulting in them being suspended from rugby’s Premiership. Heavyweight champion boxer Tyson Fury was linked with buying the Shrimps before they eventually agreed a takeover with 20-year-old businessman Sarbjot Johal. As yet, that takeover is yet to go through, but Johal has put “significant” investment into the club to keep it afloat. His first cash injection came after a delay in wage payments for March, compounding Morecambe’s miserable season on and off the pitch, with survival eventually out of their grasp despite morale-boosting wins against Wycombe and Charlton towards the tail-end of the campaign. Whether this relegation has an impact on his planned takeover only time will tell.