Tom Wardle Reports as Marine advance into Liverpool Senior Cup semi-finals after hitting four past Everton…
Goals from Mark Howarth, Louis Britton, James Barrigan and Sol Solomon helped Marine reach the semi-finals of the Liverpool County FA Senior Cup against Everton last night. The Toffees fielded their under 18’s academy team and their forward Martin Sherif added a consolation late on in front of a remarkable 1466 crowd.
Neil Young shuffled his pack from the weekend’s league defeat to Liversedge, with Andy Scarisbrick, Lucas Weir and Josh Wardle returning to the starting eleven. Club captain Anthony Miley was able to be named on the bench after he steps up his return from a lengthy injury.
The Mariners took the lead inside 16 minutes. A cross from Scarisbrick was headed away into the path of Howarth around the edge of the D, who unleashed a venomous strike into the bottom corner.
The hosts came close to adding a second ten minutes later. A pass inside by Weir bounced kindly to Britton, the striker took a touch and struck towards goal, but a deflection on the way took it narrowly over the bar.
With his second opportunity of the match, Britton was able to find the back of the net to double Marine’s advantage before half time. A neat flick in behind picked out the forward who made no mistake one on one with Jack Barrett.
After the break, Howarth looked to go from scorer to creator when sending Josh Solomon-Davies through the Blues’ backline. The full back was pressured into striking the ball from a tight angle which Barrett pushed away.
Bayleigh Passant had to stay alert after the hour mark to deny Jacob Beaumont-Clark. The Everton youngster drifted infield before firing an effort towards Passant’s near post which he was equal to.
At the other end, the Mariners added a third. Solomon glided in between the Everton defence at full speed and chipped the ball into the box where substitute Barrigan was able to simply convert.
Solomon provided a goal of his own as the game approached the final stages. The Jerseyman capped off a great move involving a number of Marine players to net his 14th goal in all competitions.
The Toffees grabbed a consolation late on. Sherif slipped in behind and avoided the offside flag to guide the ball around Passant.
Though Marine concluded the night the happier of the two sides and will hope to continue their momentum in the competition in the semi-finals.
The Mariners return to league action on Saturday when they will travel to Atherton Collieries for a 3pm kick off.
Marine: Passant, Solomon-Davies, Bunney (Smith 72), Howarth, Wardle ©, Spittle, Weir, Lussey, Britton (Curran 61), Solomon, Scarisbrick (Barrigan 41).
Unused Substitutes: Mendes, Miley.
Everton: Barrett, Maher, Wright ©, Mallon (Armstrong 9), Davis, Samuels-Smith, Beaumont-Clark (Catesby 81), Coughlan, Sherif, Cahill (Graham 81), Smikle-James.
Unused Substitutes: Morgan, Van Schoor.
Attendance: 1466.
