Farrend Rawson came back to haunt Forest Green as his stoppage-time header handed victory to Morecambe at the New Lawn.

Connor Wickham’s moment of magic handed Rovers the lead on 30 minutes but Kieran Phillips levelled the game up on the cusp of the break before ex-Rovers defender Rawson popped up at the death.

The Shrimps came close to breaking the deadlock on 19 minutes when Phillips’ mesmerising run ended with the ball hitting the underside of the bar and bouncing into the gloves of Luke McGee.

The game was crying out for a moment of quality and Wickham delivered it on 30 minutes, the former Crystal Palace and Everton striker scoring on the angle from 25 yards over the floundering Ripley from Corey O’Keeffe’s assist.

On the cusp of the break, Rawson drew a save from McGee and then Phillips brought the best out of the Rovers keeper, who was seconds later left flailing as Phillips restored parity with a minute of the first half to go.

McGee’s fingertip save from Cole Stockton’s fizzing strike and then Ripley’s block from Wickham made it an electric start to the second half. Moments later Regan Hendry’s ball into the box found the head of Dom Bernard, who was thwarted by Ripley.

The game appeared to be fizzling out but Rawson pinched it for the Shrimps, nodding in from a Jensen Weir free-kick on 93 minutes.

Rovers boss Ian Burchnall was adamant the free-kick should not have been given.

“It was a bitter pill, disappointing to concede so late,” he said. “A point would have been suitable but we didn’t do enough to win the game.

“We should have defended the set-piece at the end, but it was never a free-kick for the final goal – not even close to being a free-kick, and it frustrates me at the end when Armani (Little) broke his nose with a bad challenge on him and we don’t get it the other way.

“After the decision, we’ve got to defend the set-piece much better.”