All the goals came in the second half against Steve Staunton's struggling side who more than matched the Shrimps in a very even first half. But once Phil Jevons opened the scoring for Morecambe 10 minutes into the second half there was only going to be one winner.

After seeing his side make history, and chalk up a fourth successive League 2 win in the process, boss Sammy McIlroy said: "We were magnificent in the second half. The first half was quite tight and Darlington played some good stuff without really hurting us.

"I told the lads at half time that they needed to up the pace and put them under pressure and they did just that and we scored some really good goals. It's always nice to create a new record and to score four should give us real confidence.

"We've got a long way to go but we are going the right way now and and if we had just won a couple of the games we had drawn we would be right up there.''

The first half was a very even affair with Steve Staunton's side playing some good football and having Morecambe on the back foot for long periods.

tight opening period After a Darlington created the first clear chance of the game on 20 minutes when midfielder Jeff Smith took advantage of Will Haining's slip to break into the box and force a good save from Morecambe keeper Barry Roche.

Smith also went wide a minute later with a snapshot from the edge of the area and then curled an effort wide on 39 minutes after winning a loose ball on the right hand side of the Shrimps' area.

The Shrimps were restricted to long range efforts with Stewart Drummond and Craig Stanley firing wide from the edge of the area before Garry Hunter volleyed a Michael Twiss cross wide of the far post.

The second half was a different story however as Morecambe attacked with more conviction.

Jevons moved into double figures for the season with a neat finish on 55 minutes when he steered a left foot shot past the Darlington keeper from the left hand side of the box.

The Shrimps continued to press and Laurence Wilson made it 2-0 on 64 minutes with his second goal in successive games after producing another storming run into the box which finished with a sweet left foot shot.

Stewart Drummond sealed the points on 79 minutes with a good finish from Stanley's right wing free kick and the Shrimps capped off a fine second half with a fourth goal six minutes from time when Wayne Curtis took advantage of a horrendous error from Nick Liversedge to roll the ball into the empty net after the Darlington keeper totally missed his kick from a bouncing back pass.

Morecambe: Roche 7; Hunter 7 (rep Duffy 79), Parrish 7, Artell 7, Haining 7, Wilson 8; Drummond 7, Stanley 7, Twiss 7 (rep Wainwright 82); Jevons 7, Mullin 7 (rep Curtis 79). Subs not used: Davies, McStay, Taylor, Moss.

Booked: Haining 72

Darlington: Liversedge, Barnes, Miller, Foster, Giddings; Mulligan (rep Gray 65), Davis, Hogg, Smith; Collins, Thomas (rep Diop 58). Subs: Bower, Smith, Main, Groves, Jones..

Booked: Barnes, Giddings, Collins.

Ref: K Evans.

Att: 1,698