Tom Murphy reports from St. James Park…
Captain Gareth Dean scored the only goal in Brackley Town’s 1-0 win over Marine.
Despite a better performance from The Mariners, they returned to Merseyside with no points.
Throughout the encounter Marine posed danger but were unable to cause any real issues for goalkeeper Jonny Maxted.
The first of these fell to Tom Atcheson whose header glanced just past the post after a dangerous delivery from Matty Waters.
Marine continued to create chances in the opening minutes, Owen Robinson came close on two occasions but was unable to bother Maxted who was left unfazed.
The first real chance for the home side came in the 32nd minute when Morgan Roberts nicked the ball off Leigh Whelan and charged forward unleashing a shot in the process which glanced just wide of the right hand post.
Marine came out the blocks quickly for the second period and instantly started to cause trouble for the Brackley defence.
A poor clearance from Maxted fell kindly to Robinson who went for goal from 50 yards whilst the keeper desperately scrambled back into his goal.
The number 10 hit it sweetly but the ball missed its target and bounced wide.
The away side continued to pile on the pressure. Finlay Sinclair Smith, who was back in the starting eleven, came close from distance before the rebound fell to Adam Thomas who couldn’t convert from a tight angle.
Against the run of play, Brackley took the lead after 54 minutes when Dean leaped highest to nod home from a corner kick delivered by Tommy O’Sullivan.
With time against them, Neil Young’s men began to grow frustrated as more opportunities went amiss.
Like we had seen for a lot of the afternoon, lovely linkup from Marine, this time between Robinson and Brown, led to a dangerous ball being whipped into the box which came agonisingly close to the head of Chanka Zimba who couldn’t get a strong enough touch on the ball.
Luke Hutchinson, who had made a superb save just before the opening goal, kept the difference as just one goal when he tipped over an effort from range in the 73rd.
Chances continued to come and go as Marine couldn’t find that all important goal to level things up in the dying minutes.
Whilst the performance was improved, it was still not enough to find the back of the net and Young’s side left Brackley disappointed.
Brackley Town: 1. Jonny Maxted, 19. Zak Lilly, 9. Danny Newton, 6. Gareth Dean ©, 11. Matt Lowe, 8. Alfie Bates, 27. Connor Hall (Cross 62’), 15. Tyler Lytle, 18. Tommy O’Sullivan, 10. Morgan Roberts (Pollock 46’), 21. Kade Craig.
Unused Subs: Shane Byrne, Ali Worby.
Marine: 1. Luke Hutchinson, 23. James Brown, 17. Tom Atcheson, 22. Joe Mattock, 3. Matty Waters, 4. Leigh Whelan (Regan Griffiths 82), 16. Kristi Montgomery (Jez Davies 74’), 10. Owen Robinson (Ola Lawal 70’), 7. Adam Thomas © (Brad Holmes 74’), 19. Chanka Zimba, 20. Fin Sinclair Smith.
Unused subs: Scott Butler.
St James Park
Attendance: 733
