Under-18s League: Morecambe 1-4 Shrewsbury Town
- Youth begin league season with convincing victory
- Ethan Jones scores a ten-minute hat-trick in second half
- Joe Kenton had cancelled out Morecambe's early opener
: Burnley v Shrewsbury Town (Saturday 15 August, League, 11am kick-off, venue tbc). NEXT FIXTURE
ASSISTANTS: Shaun Taylor & Courtney Hughes
REFEREE: Alex Beckett
UNUSED SUBS: Max Povey (GK), Paul Dawson.
: Niall Maher (GK); Lewis Masters, Matt Livingstone, Robbie Jenkinson, Alex Webb (Jack Taylor), Tom Cowley (c), Morgan Homson-Smith, Ben Hedley, Luke Jordan, Olly Box (Lewis Tomlinson), Jake Townsend. MORECAMBE LINE-UP
GOALS: Kenton (41), Jones (52, 59, 62).
UNUSED SUBS: Joel Bonner.
: Harry Lewis (GK); Ryan Sears, Callum Roberts, George Hughes, Callum Grogan (c), Jacob Rammell, Joe Kenton (Jack Butts), John McAtee, George Hassall (Charley Higgs), Ethan Jones, Tom King (Nathan Millis). SHREWSBURY TOWN LINE-UP
FULL-TIME: Morecambe 1-4 Shrewsbury Town
In the end, Shrewsbury ran out comfortable winners to make the perfect start to the league season, with their next fixture coming at home to Burnley on Saturday 15 August.
At the other end, Jones could have had his fourth, again from the inside right, but this time he fired over.
Morecambe had the opportunity to pull a goal back with little over 20 minutes to go when Luke Jordan fired low and wide of the left post from close range.
Jones then completed a ten-minute hat-trick just past the hour mark as he collected McAtee's square pass on the edge of the penalty area before curling the ball in at the near corner.
Again the striker fired low across goal to find the far left corner, but this time he beat his man through the centre to create space to shoot.
Striker John McAtee then fired over in the search for the Shrews' third moments later, but Jones grabbed goal number three for Town in similar fashion to his first.
Shrewsbury's number ten collected a clever, short free-kick from Rammell inside the penalty area, spun his marker before firing low into the far corner to put Town in front.
However, Jones soon got on the scoresheet in the 52nd minute.
Town made a strong start to the second period too and Jones looked set to give his side the lead within four minutes of the restart as he beat both defence and goalkeeper to a long ball forward, but the striker just missed the empty net under intense pressure.
HALF-TIME: Morecambe 1-1 Shrewsbury Town
Kenton was fed down the inside right of the penalty area by Jones and cooly slid the ball across goal into the far left corner to equalise, with the score remaining level at the break.
Hassall again tried his luck from long range, likewise Rammell in the search for an equaliser, but it was Kenton who got the young Shrews back on level terms four minutes before half-time.
However, the early setback appeared to spring Town into life and their first chance of the game fell for striker George Hassall, who collected the ball after Ethan Jones drove forward, but his shot lacked enough power to trouble Shrimps goalkeeper Niall Maher.
Shrewsbury slipped behind in fourth minute of the match after failing to clear a corner from the left which allowed Homson-Smith to plant a header into the far right corner of an empty net to give the hosts the lead.
FIRST HALF
Callum Grogan replaced Joel Bonner at centre back, while Jacob Rammell and Tom King came in for Chris Gallagher and Matthew Jones.
Head of Academy coaching Ian Dawes made three changes to the side which faced Chesterfield in the Under-18s' final pre-season friendly a week before.
TEAM NEWS
But Joe Kenton equalised for Town in the first period before Jones grabbed three goals in ten second-half minutes.
Town's under-18s had fallen behind to an early header from Morecambe's Morgan Homsom-Smith in the game at Kendal Town Football Club.