Morecambe 2-0 Bradford City: Shrimps win not enough for automatic promotion

Cole Stockton (left) scored his 15th goal of the season in Morecambe's win

Morecambe were forced to settle for a place in the League Two play-offs despite beating Bradford, after Cambridge and Bolton took the final two automatic promotion spots.

Liam McAlinden opened the scoring on the half-hour mark, cutting in and finishing after good work from Toumani Diagouraga.

Cole Stockton swept in after the break to secure the win the Shrimps required.

But Bolton's 4-1 win at Crawley and Cambridge's 3-0 victory over Grimsby means Morecambe finish fourth.

Ultimately, they lost crucial ground on Bolton when losing 1-0 at home to Ian Evatt's side last month.

Morecambe's fourth place is their joint-highest pyramid finish and they will face Tranmere Rovers in the play-offs.

It marks a turnaround for the club having finished in the bottom seven of the table for the past five seasons, and comes 11 years after their only previous appearance in the League Two play-offs.

"To finish with 23 wins out of 46 games, and to finish fourth in the league, is a fantastic season," boss Derek Adams told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"We've come up against teams in this division that are bigger and have spent more money than us, but it's not all about that.

"It's about a wee bit of spirit, a wee bit of ability, a good bit of organisation and an ability to score goals and not concede, and we've done that throughout the season."