The first half saw chances at both ends with Darlington's Liam Hatch guilty of wasting a glorious opportunity on 22 minutes when he fired straight at Barry Roche six yards out when he was free in the box.

Morecambe hit back with Rene Howe hitting the crossbar with an overhead kick and the Shrimps' top scorer went close again on 25 minutes with an overhead kick that hit the top of the crossbar.

Howe was then put through by Stewart Drummond's superb throughball but he was denied by an excellent save from Kazimierczak.

Darlington always looked threatening though and Danny Carlton came within a whisker of giving the home side the lead in injury time with a left-foot shot that shaved the left-hand post.

The second half also saw chances at both ends with Dave Artell heading straight at Kazimierczak from a Michael Twiss corner and Howe seeing a cross deflected inches wide of the Darlington goal.

But the home side had a good spell themselves with Roche forced into the game's best save on 71 minutes when he tipped away a fierce drive from Pawel Abbott which was heading for the top right hand corner.

The game ended with plenty of action as Garry Hunter volleyed straight at Kazimierczak and Abbott volleyed wide from close range after beating Roche to the loose ball.

Neil Wainwright returned to the starting line-up against his former club Darlington.

Wainwright missed the defeat against Luton Town with an Achilles injury but has been passed fit for the game and replaces Mark Duffy who drops to the bench.

Morecambe: Roche; Yates, Artell, Adams, Bentley, Wainwright; Drummond, Curtis, Hunter; Twiss, Howe. Subs: Edge, McStay, O'Carroll, McLachlan, Duffy.

Darlington: Kazimierczak; Austin, White, Miller, Ryan; Carlton, Kennedy, Purdie, Ravenhill; Hatch, Abbott. Subs: Fortune, Poole, Burgmeier, Pocklington, Main.

Ref: D Deadman.