Didcot Town 1 Marine 0

Match Report from Pete Crockett

MARINE UNDONE BY OWEN JAMES STRIKE

On a raw afternoon in Oxfordshire two sides who have lately mislaid their confidence conspired to produce a dour fretful contest short on flourish and long on endeavour.

The anxiety that comes when form deserts teams hung over the pitch like mist, every pass measured, every risk second-guessed. In the end it took a single strike of rare clarity from Didcot’s Owen James three minutes after the interval to separate them.

Until then there had been much perspiration and little to stir the blood. The opening quarter of an hour passed in a kind of uneasy truce with Didcot careful and Supermarine no less so. Both teams were wary of committing the error that might deepen their discomfort.

A Sal Abubakar corner slid menacingly across the Didcot goal begging a touch that never came. Then on 17 minutes James, already the liveliest attacker on view, drove in a powerful effort that Luke Purnell in the Marine goal did well to beat away.

Supermarine, for all their huffing and puffing, had to make do with half-chances. Around the half-hour mark Sid Gbla and Rapha Oppong both threatened without quite taking command of the moment. One sensed, even then, that only something struck cleanly and with conviction would suffice.

It came shortly after the restart. James, receiving the ball at the edge of the area, fashioned a pocket of space with admirable composure. His shot, struck with a kind of angry grace, flew past Purnell and into the net, a thunderous finish out of keeping with the caution that had gone before. For a side so lately short of confidence Didcot suddenly looked taller.

Supermarine did threaten a riposte. Five minutes after the goal Sid Gbla’s effort deflected narrowly wide, wrong-footing defenders and supporters alike. Yet there was a wariness about their build-up, as though every attack carried the self-doubt of a side desperate to will itself back to their best habits. And still Owen James haunted them. On the hour he should have doubled the lead glancing his header wide of a gaping goal.

From there, Didcot retreated into their task with stoic resolution. The defence organised and unyielding repelled what Marine could muster. The visitors worked, they chased, but too often their attacks broke against the red wall and fell away.

In stoppage time came their final opportunity: a long ball dropping for Dan Warre who advanced on goal with defenders scrambling. The bounce, awkward and bobbling, allowed Didcot to close him down; Warre chose to go alone when the square pass was on, colleagues waiting, the goal looming empty. The moment passed, and with it Supermarine’s faint hopes.

So 2025 ends as a year to be filed quickly away in the drawers of memory for those who follow Marine. The team is struggling to produce the easy crispness of their play in October. However, the effort is there; what you see is not torpor but the tentativeness and disconnect that infects a team when things are not clicking.

However, players are returning from injury, suspensions are served, and fortune can turn. Out of such circumstances seasons can, and frequently are, rekindled.

Come on Marine!

Attendance: 398

Manager:	Jamie Heapy
Line-up:	Colours: All Red
No	Player	Goals	Card	No	Substitute	Goals	Card
1	Leigh Bedwell [GK]
2	Rocco Sughayer		58’
3	Cameron McNeil
4	James Glover
5	Luke Carnell
6	Adam Learoyd (c)
7	Cameron Mills
8	Felix Robertson
9	Owen James	48’
10	Jenson Wright			14.	Dylan Conlan 79’
11	Tiger J Hall

Editors Star Man: Owen James
Subs not used: Charles Herbert, Mekhai Bessasa-Grant, Lewis Mills, Kian Larkins

Manager:	Bobby Wilkinson
Line-up:	Colours: All Yellow
No	Player	Goals	Card	No	Substitute	Goals	Card
1	Luke Purnell [GK]
2	Tawana Changa
3	Piotr Petrynski		77’
4	Olly Case		35’
5	Jamie Edge		93’
6	Zach Rugman			17	Dayo Sonoiki 64’
7	Sal Abubakar			14	Jonny Efedje 64’
8	Max Hemmings (c)		67’
9	Rapha Oppong			12	Dan Warre 64’
10	Sid Gbla
11	Frankie Monk			15	George Alston 64

Editors Star Man: Jamie Edge
Subs not used: Tom Farnsworth