Morecambe 1, Wycombe Wanderers 3.

SAM Wood and Joe Jacobson both scored superb long range strikes as Wanderers moved to the top of League Two with a win against ten man Morecambe.

Wood, who had been labelled ‘Bromley’s answer to Gareth Bale’ on a BBC Radio Five Live show earlier in the day, netted a jaw dropping strike that the Welshman would have been proud to put Wanderers in front from fully 40 yards out.

It was a great way to mark his 100th appearance for the club and another milestone was celebrated as skipper Paul Hayes – making his 500th professional appearance – was also on the scoresheet as Wanderers appeared to have things wrapped up within quarter of an hour.

But an Andy Fleming header to half the deficit followed the withdrawal through injury of star defender Aaron Pierre and it looked like changing the course of the whole match.

Until that point Wanderers had been controlled in possession, calm in defence and able to pick intelligent passes around a defence that looked shaky for a side sitting fifth in the table at the start of play.

They rocked as Morecambe threw everything at them, but within moments of the restart the balance of play swung back in their favour as the lively Jamie Devitt lashed out at Peter Murphy and was sent off.

He had unquestionably been the hosts’ star man and without him they looked bereft of ideas.

And Wanderers took full advantage of the extra man by wrapping up the win thanks to another brilliant goal as Jacobson netted his first goal for the club with an excellent long range free kick.

It rounded off another great awayday for Blues, who are still unbeaten on their travels this season and took over leadership of the division on goal difference after Bury were downed by AFC Wimbledon.

That wonderful opening goal for Wood was the first shot on target, following an early half chance for the hosts as Devitt showed some fine wing play to get clear on the left and stand up a cross that skimmed off the forehead of Kevin Ellison and went harmlessly wide.

It came somewhat out of the blue however as Wood tried his luck with a sweetly hit first time strike from fully 40 yards that looped over the head of red-faced keeper Barry Roche, who had come off his line anticipating his team mates would clear the ball.

Ellison – so often a thorn for the Shrimps against Wanderers – prompted loud shouts for a penalty after being upended in a tangle with Aaron Pierre, but referee Phil Gibbs waved play on.

Hearts were in mouths on that occasion but they settled again as Blues went straight up the other end to double their advantage. The recalled Max Kretzschmar whipped in a corner that Alfie Mawson headed goalwards and although Roche reacted smartly to parry he was powerless to prevent Hayes from bundling home the rebound from close range.

That two goal salvo, with barely five minutes separating the strikes, knocked the stuffing out of Morecambe and it could have been even worse for them had Peter Murphy attacked a cross from Paris Cowan-Hall with more conviction, after the winger had gone past Alan Goodall like he wasn’t there.

In the past Ellison has played the pantomime villain and he did little to endear himself to the Wanderers fans as he trolled through the back of Pierre in a bid to reach a ball he was third favourite to reach behind Matt Ingram and the defender.

Pierre suffered a bad injury, with Ellison immediately calling the medical staff over, and after several minutes of treatment he was substituted off. Sido Jombati moved into the centre of defence and Josh Scowen went to right back, with Matt Bloomfield coming off the bench and into midfield in a forced reshuffle.

And in the seven minutes of stoppage time added on for that injury the hosts pulled a goal back as Devitt was able to send in a cross from the area now being policed by Scowen and Fleming climbed high to flick a header beyond Ingram’s grasp and into the back of the net to hand Morecambe a lifeline.

That advantage lasted levelled itself out within five minutes of the restart however as Devitt – by far and away Morecambe’s best player – firstly made a stiff challenge on Kretzschmar before raising his hands to Murphy off the ball after a foul had been called, with referee Gibbs electing to flash a straight red card at the winger.

Kretzschmar then tried to catch Roche out at his near post with an angled shot from a lofted Cowan-Hall pass, but the keeper batted it away with a strong pair of hands.

The midfielder wasted a golden chance to put things to bed on the hour as Murphy split the Morecambe defence and sent Kretzschmar away, and although he beat Roche with his shot it clipped the outside of the post and went wide.

Morecambe never threatened to get back into the game though and Blues made it safe as the ref ignored the howls of despair to award Wanderers a free kick 35 yards out. In keeping with the Gareth Bale theme Jacobson stepped up to take it and sent a beautiful shot into the top corner beyond Roche’s reach via a nick off the end of the wall to wrap things up.

Wanderers: Ingram, Jombati, Pierre (sub Bloomfield), Mawson, Jacobson, Cowan-Hall (sub Holloway), Murphy, Scowen, Kretzschmar, Wood, Hayes (sub Craig). Substitutes not used: Richardson, Walker, McClure.

Attendance: 1,710 (214 from Wycombe)