Goals from Reilly, Cummins and Wignall helped Marine record their second win out of two games in pre-season, during a heated encounter against South Liverpool.
The away side took the lead after 13 minutes, after James Barrigan continued his excellent start to pre-season by picking out Lewis Reilly in the box, who connected with a volley from around six yards out.
However, South Liverpool levelled the match ten minutes later, as the Mariners failed to clear their lines from a free kick, with the ball eventually being headed into Bayleigh Passant’s net.
But it didn’t take long for Marine to regain the lead, with Niall Cummins opening his account for this pre-season, capitalising on a defensive mix up and lofting the ball into an open net from just outside the penalty area. This goal reasserted Marine’s dominance, after a decent spell of possession for South Liverpool.
Another impressive performer in our opening two games of pre-season is Mark Howarth, who was instrumental in the third Marine goal of the game. Receiving the ball just inside the opposition half, the central midfielder played an inch-perfect ball over the top to Cummins, who expertly controlled and finished to bag his second goal of the game. This gave Marine a two-goal cushion heading into half time.
And things went from bad to worse for South Liverpool, as just one minute into the second half, a short pass back to the keeper was intercepted by Cummins, who coolly finished to secure his hat trick. A good day at the office for Marine’s number nine.
Tempers would begin to flare throughout the half, with Owen Watkinson entering the referees’ book for an altercation with an opposition defender which saw both men lean their heads into each other. Both sides would receive several yellow cards as the game went on, as several physical challenges began to fly in.
The evenings’ final goal came in the 72nd minute, with Watkinson pressing well to win the ball high up the pitch, before playing in Ryan Wignall, who calmly slotted the ball past the keeper.
Then in the 77th minute, frustrations would reach boiling point, when a strong 50/50 challenge between a defensive Marine triallist and a South Liverpool defender sparked a brawl that would result in three red cards – two for South Liverpool and one for the Marine triallist.
Having scored nine goals in their opening two pre-season games, Marine will travel to Irlam this Saturday, hoping to maintain their win streak.
