A strong defensive performance laid the foundations for a fantastic victory, as Marine defeated Morpeth Town by two goals to nil.
Neil Young made four changes to the side that were beaten by Gainsborough Trinity in midweek, with Josh Solomon-Davies, Sean Smith, Jack Dunn and Andy Scarisbrick coming in for Luke Clark, Connor Evans and the injured duo of Alex Doyle and Freddie Price.
Marine started proceedings in control, seeing some quick link up play between the attacking trio of Sol Solomon, Dunn and Scarisbrick result in the latter sliding an inviting ball across the six yard box, which Dunn was unable to turn in.
Solomon made a continuous nuisance of himself, winning multiple free kicks in good crossing positions down the left wing.
With a good tempo to the game, both sides exchanged spells in possession, but it was the Mariners who came close first, as Charley Doyle flicked on Dunn’s long throw, only for it to bounce off the top of the crossbar.
The hosts almost opened the scoring just after the half hour mark, as Liam Noble’s defence-splitting ball sent Jack Foalle on his way, but Bayleigh Passant was able to produce a vital save.
Despite the quick pace of the match, and some impressive patterns of play from both sides, neither team really tested the goalkeepers consistently, with just the sole Passant save to note.
At half time, manager Young would have been happy with the improvement in performance, with his side effectively retaining possession in comparison to Tuesday night.
Just five minutes into the second half and Dunn was the latest to fire at goal, excellently controlling a cross-field pass before cutting in and smashing a 25-yard effort back off the upright.
Enjoying more of the ball, Marine began to dominate the match, putting pressure on the back line of the Highwaymen.
Finally, the deadlock was broken in the 67th minute, after a lung-bursting run from Solomon-Davies allowed him to get to the byline and cross, before Solomon showed great awareness to step over the ball and leave it to Scarisbrick, who marked his first Marine start with a well taken finish inside the penalty area.
Morpeth, with a sense of urgency now they were a goal down, began to attack down the flanks, in particularly targeting their right-hand side. Noble came inches away from levelling the scores, but his curling effort whistled wide of Passant’s goal.
Right back Ryan Wombell had an impressive afternoon for the home side, attacking well throughout the match, winning his side numerous corners as a result of blocked crosses.
Into injury time at the end of the second half and some tidy footwork from Solomon down the right wing saw the forward able to play a teasing square ball across the face of goal, but substitute Evans was unable to meet it.
Desperately searching for the equalising goal, Morpeth threw everything into the closing stages of the match, as goalkeeper Dan Lowson made his way forward to offer a threat from corners.
However, as Marine managed to scramble the ball out of the box, Hayden Campbell, who had been previously brought on, found himself with space to shoot into an open goal from 10 yards inside Marine’s half, an effort which he managed to perfection, sealing a brilliant result up in the North East.
The result sees Marine climb back into the playoff places, ahead of next Saturday’s home tie to Liversedge.
Marine: Passant, Solomon-Davies, Smith, Barrigan, Wardle, Spittle, Weir (Campbell), C. Doyle, Dunn (Evans), Solomon (Touray), Scarisbrick
