Final day defeat at Christie Park left Aldershot Town in sixth place in League Two and facing a two-legged Play-Off semi-final against Rotherham United.
Morecambe’s deserved victory – the result of a hungry second half resurgence – lifted them into fourth, to play Dagenham and Redbridge for the right to contest a Wembley final.
With their own Play-Off place secured, Kevin Dillon rested several key players, including Scott Donnelly and both Morgans, and it showed in a pallid second-half display, as the visitors faded after a promising opening 45 minutes.
Ultimately it was Aaron Brown’ slip which proved crucial, allowing Paul Mullin to pull the ball back for Garry Hunter to sweep into the net, but in truth Aldershot were second best after the break as an enforced substitution, which moved winger Mark Duffy out to the right flank after Craig Stanley’s injury, galvanised the home side.
Neither side mustered much more than a sporadic threat from set-pieces in an evenly-contested first period, the best chance falling to Mullin, who, having muscled himself in front of Winfield, saw a header somehow scrambled past the post by Jamie Young.
Aldershot wasted several good opportunities, their best approach play nullified by poor finishing, but they had done enough to suggest a positive outcome. Those hopes were dashed by a timid second-half performance, and Dillon’s attacking changes, as Aldershot ended the game with four strikers on the pitch, proved too little too late.
It failed to quench the optimism of the travelling support, however, and The Shots must now approach yet another meeting with Ronnie Moore’s Millers – their seventh and eighth games in just two seasons – with great confidence.