Morecambe suffered back-to-back relegations as a 5-1 defeat at Woking saw them drop out of the National League.

The hosts took an early lead after just 13 minutes through captain Harry Beautyman, who fired into the right corner for his 10th goal of the season.

Woking made it two eight minutes before the break as Aaron Drewe's corner went all the way into the net.

Morecambe responded four minutes later through a Jack Nolan strike from the edge of the area.

But any hopes the visitors had of staging a fightback were brutally extinguished.

Olly Sanderson struck Woking's third after 77 minutes before Sam Ashford and Sanderson again scored in added time to complete a miserable afternoon for Morecambe.

Match report supplied by PA Media.

The 2025-26 season was always going to be tough for Morecambe given what had transpired in the campaigns leading up to it.

Their stay in the English Football League ended after 18 years when they dropped out of League Two last season in the midst of an unenviable financial struggle that seemed never-ending.

What followed last summer was a saga over who would take over the club from former owner Jason Whittingham, who himself drew criticism from Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and even Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

A takeover by Punjab Warriors was finally completed in mid-August after a disrupted start to the campaign - and a flurry of players were signed as the new owners aimed to steady the ship.

That has not transpired and their stay in the National League has lasted just one season, with more off-field drama overshadowing footballing matters once again.

One of the first orders of business by the new owners was to sack boss Derek Adams, with Ashvir Singh Johal coming in to replace him to become the first Sikh to take charge of a professional British club.

Having won just five out of 28 league games and with the club second from bottom of the table, Johal left by mutual consent in January as former boss Jim Bentley returned to try to navigate the Shrimps to safety.

Again, off-field issues made the headlines. In December, Gurpreet Singh Rehal, a key figure involved in the takeover of the club, was sanctioned by the UK government over accusations of involvement in terrorism.

Meanwhile last month, the club were issued with a winding-up petition over a legacy debt, which was settled shortly afterwards.

Under Bentley's stewardship, Morecambe pulled off some impressive wins as they looked to avoid the drop - first with a 4-0 thumping of Eastleigh, a 3-2 win away at Wealdstone, a 5-0 thrashing against Sutton and last week's impressive 4-2 win at Rochdale, which knocked their opponents off the top of the table.

But in the end, the club ran out of games and regional football beckons for the club for the first time since 1995.