Tom Wardle Reports as Nine-man Marine torn apart by Tigers…
Marine’s playoff hopes were ended this afternoon as they were defeated 4-0 by Hyde United at The Project Solar Stadium. Joe Bunney and Luke Clark were both issued red cards in the second half to give the Mariners a mammoth task of picking up any points. Marine end the day in 8th place in the Northern Premier League table with one game to go.
Neil Young made three changes from Monday’s 2-1 loss to Warrington Town. Bunney, Ben Hodkinson and Lucas Weir replaced Sean Smith, Mark Howarth and Akiel Raffie.
The home side controlled the play early on and were close to going ahead inside half an hour.
Following a corner, Jack Redshaw floated a cross in that was headed on by Will Russ onto the top of the crossbar.
A minute later, Dane McCullough’s strike deflected off Tom Pratt and found the back of the net, but Pratt was adjudged offside.
Marine’s only form of an opening came when Sol Solomon drove into shooting range and placed an effort wide of the far post.
Bunney collected his first booking after bringing down Manasse Mampala when the hosts attempted a quick breakaway on the cusp of half time.
Five minutes after the break, Bunney was awarded a second yellow card and the visitors were down to 10 with the game still in the balance.
Though it wasn’t long before the Tigers broke the deadlock, as Callum Spooner’s corner was headed into the bottom corner by Mampala.
On the hour mark, Mampala doubled his tally. The ball found him in space inside the box and he fired it past Bayleigh Passant.
Following the second goal, Clark came on for his first appearance since January 7th. Eight minutes later, the referee showed him a straight red card for an elbow on Tom Iorpenda.
Adam Dawson netted Hyde’s third. He was told to shoot by the home support when he had space on the edge of the box. He pulled the trigger and found the top right corner.
It was four on 78 minutes. Dawson switched to the provider, as his cross picked out Redshaw for a free header at the back post.
Marine were chasing shadows in the closing stages in a difficult afternoon made even harder being two men down.
However, the Mariners have a chance to claim silverware on Tuesday evening in the Liverpool Senior Cup Final against Runcorn Linnets. Kick-off is at 7:45pm.
Hyde United: Atherton, Ditchfield, McCullough, Spooner (Tongue 77), Fleming, Roscoe ©, Mampala (Dawson 66), Iorpenda, Russ (Leitch-Smith 74), Redshaw, Pratt.
Unused Substitutes: Fagbola, Neavin.
Marine: Passant, Hayde, Bunney, Lussey, Wardle ©, Johnson, Hodkinson (Howarth 57), Doyle, Hardy (Smith 57), Solomon, Weir (Clark 61).
Unused Substitutes: Solomon-Davies, Raffie.
Attendance: 811.
