MORECAMBE kicked off the new season in leisurely fashion with a 3-1 Christie Park defeat by Division Two Tranmere Rovers.

This was the friendliest of friendlies as Rovers used two complete teams over the course of 90 minutes and Morecambe made seven changes from the starting line-up at half time giving virtually the whole first team squad an airing.

And there were plenty of positive signs for Shrimps boss Jim Harvey despite the scoreline and the ease with which Tranmere eventually won the game.

Not least of those was the first half pairing of new signing Jimmy Kelly with Chris Blackburn in midfield one busy and combative and the other elegant and seemingly always in space for a pass.

Traneme started the brighter and posed plenty of problems for the Morecambe back line, with the lanky Calvin Zola usually in attendance.

But it was Morecambe who created the better chances as Danny Carlton twice outpaced the Rovers defence to shoot at John Achterberg, Hunter had a close range volley charged down and Blackburn hit his effort over the bar from 20 yards out.

Rovers took the lead on 40 minutes when skipper Jim Bentley was harshly adjudged to have fouled Mark Rankine on the edge of the Morecambe penalty area and full back Ryan Taylor simply slotted the resulting free kick high to new keeper Adam Sollitt's right.

Morecambe were all at sea after seven half time changes but new signing Michael Twiss almost made an immediate impact as he raced through a gap in the Tranmere defence to close in on Tranmere replacement keeper Russell Haworth.

In the end his weak shot was easily saved and Tranmere almost doubled the lead as Chris Dagnell pounced on an intended back pass, rounded Sollitt and rolled the ball towards an empty net only to see the effort rebound off the post to the relieved Sollitt.

Shrimps went straight up to the other end and levelled the score through full back Dave Perkins.

He picked the ball up just inside the Rovers half and, as the defence backed off, spotted Haworth off his line and sent in a perfect chip to make it 1-1.

The game rather petered out after that with Tranmere making all the running and Morecambe limited to raids on the break. But with Sean O'Connor isolated up front there was little threat.

Chris Dagnell showed his eye for goal, though, as he was twice on the end of neat approach play with classical finishes to give his side a deserved 3-1 verdict.

And there was one sour moment near the end when Tranmere's Eugene Dadi caught defender Carl Ruffer with an elbow, sending him off the pitch for stitches above the eye.

MORECAMBE: Sollitt, Walm-sley, Bentley, Swan, Perkins, Thompson, Kelly, Blackburn, Curtis, Hunter, Carlton. Subs: Mahoney, Ruffer, O'Connor, Twiss, McFlynn, Rogan, Dodgeson.

A Morecambe side will play away at neighbours Kendal Town tomorrow (Friday) evening, with the next three Christie Park fixtures against Stockport County on Saturday (kick off 3pm), Manchester City next Monday (7.45pm) and Preston North End on Wednesday (7.45pm).