Despite a late Matty Taylor goal, Forest Green Rovers suffered a 1-2 defeat to Morecambe at The New Lawn.

Rovers came into this one following a narrow 4-3 loss to Notts County, a game that saw Troy Deeney produce a brilliant hattrick. Meanwhile, the visitors’ most recent outing was a 2-2 draw against Swindon.

After a quiet opening period to the game, other than an early yellow for Shrimps captain Donald Love, there were opportunities for both sides in quick succession.

In the 12th minute, a Ryan Inniss foul, which resulted in him receiving a yellow himself, saw a shooting opportunity for Michael Mellon from the resulting free-kick, but his effort went wide.

There were then three chances in the space of a minute. The first saw Troy Deeney square the ball just behind Matty Stevens, who managed to still get a shot off but it travelled just wide. The next was an effort from Jamie Robson, which was straight at Stuart Moore. Morecambe then had a chance of their own, with Mellon forcing a good save out of new-man James Belshaw.

With 23 minutes played, Jordan Slew tried his luck from range, but once again it was well denied by Belshaw.

A few minutes later, the away side took the lead. A ball from Love saw Mellon find himself one-on-one with the keeper, and the striker dinked it over Belshaw and into the back of the net.

It was almost two just before half-time, with Tom Bloxham trying his luck from about 35 yards after Belshaw came out of his box to head clear, but his attempt bounced past the post.

Almost immediately after the restart, Morecambe doubled their advantage. A ball across the box by Bloxham found Jordan Slew, who tapped in from close range.

Substitute Tyrese Omotoye had a great chance to pull one back a couple of minutes later, but his header from close-range sailed over.

On the hour mark, a brilliant ball from Dom Bernard found Marcel Lavinier at the back-post, but he blazed his first-time strike over from a few yards out.

In the 84th minute, Rovers pulled a goal back. The ball was headed back across the box and met by Omotoye, with Matty Taylor being in the right place to bundle it home.

Despite pushing for an equaliser, Rovers found themselves narrowly defeated.

We’re back in action on Tuesday night when we travel to Stockport County. Ticket information can be found, here.

Forest Green Rovers: Belshaw (G/K); Bernard (C), Inniss, Welch, Robson (Omotoye 46’); McCann (Bunker 46’), Brown (Jenks 76’), McAllister, Lavinier (Morton 72’); Stevens (Taylor 72’), Deeney.

Morecambe: Moore (G/K); Senior, Bedeau, Connolly, Love (C) (Tutonda 61’); King, Taylor (Davenport 61’); Slew (Mayor 72’), McKiernan, Bloxham (Walker 72’); Mellon (Rawson 78’).