Tom Murphy reports from the MTA…
Marine 2 (Hunter 5’, Wardle 40’) Bedford Town 1 (Brown 7’)
Marine made it three wins on the bounce after a nail biting victory against Bedford Town.
Goals from Ash Hunter and Josh Wardle secured the points on home turf for the Mariners.
It was a quick start to the game with both teams scoring in the first 10 minutes.
Hunter scored his first in a Marine shirt after an exceptional volley inside the first five minutes before Ellis Brown slotted home two minutes later.
The away side found momentum after the equaliser and began to put Marine under pressure as Spinelli was forced into making a handful of saves.
Much of the half was stop-start with plenty of free kicks awarded throughout the first period.
Wardle then scrambled the ball over the line to put Marine back ahead just before the interval.
In a scrappy second half both teams struggled to create any real chances as Bobby Grant’s men looked to see the game out.
Brown almost scored his second of the game in the 50th minute after he saw his strike from distance be tipped over by Matteo Spinelli, who was superb in goal for Marine all afternoon.
Both teams continued to cancel each other out for the remainder of the game as Grant gave first appearances to both Harry Huby and Noah Roberts.
Marine (4-3-3): Spinelli; Thomas, Wardle, Butler, Sloane; Fielding, McDonald (Bell 63’), Marsden; Hunter (Huby 92’), Sinclair Smith (Roberts 85’), Newell (Warburton 45’).
Unused subs: Gregson, Cowderoy
Bedford Town(4-2-3-1): Wilks; Brown, Taylor, Tomlinson, McDowell (Isaacson 46’); Gyamfi, Kayibanda (Coyle 71’); Brown (Panter 71’), Marsh, Blake (Dawodu 71’); Jeffers.
Unused subs: Green, Phillips, Steinke.
Referee: John Mulligan
Star Man: Josh Wardle
Attendance: 1,296