Didcot Town 1 Marine 3

Match Report from Pete Crockett

Marine’s Cup Train does not stop at Didcot

Swindon Supermarine’s impressive opening to the season gathered further momentum at Didcot Town, where a combination of defensive resolve, midfield tenacity, and ruthless finishing carried Marine to a deserved 3-1 FA Cup victory and a fifth successive win.

Both sides arrived for this railway town derby with goals in their luggage. Didcot had dispatched London Lions 6-3 in their last match, while Marine returned from Slimbridge AFC on Wednesday night with a resounding 7-2 victory safely stowed away. If recent evidence was any guide this was an afternoon unlikely to suffer from a shortage of goals.

For Marine there were, however, some awkward preliminaries. This was their fifth match in fourteen days and came only three days after the exertions at Slimbridge. Then there was the pitch. The parched, capricious surface at Wisloe Road had demanded improvisation; Didcot’s verdant carpet of green was its opposite. Footballers complain about bad pitches but, curiously, changing suddenly to a pristine one can require an adjustment of its own.

A crowd just short of 400, including a healthy contingent from Swindon, saw a match which began at a breathless pace. Marine’s Tyger*J Hall was quickly involved; cutting in from the left, he drove a low shot across goal towards the far post, where Leigh Bedwell stretched down to turn the ball away.

Almost immediately Didcot replied, JP Nyuysemo striking a rising effort from twenty-five yards which Joel Halliday tipped over his crossbar. Amid this early turbulence Tawana Changa collected a yellow card for an impetuous challenge near the halfway line. It was a warning of the competitive edge already developing.

On six minutes Didcot opened the scoring. Some crisp interplay between Jordan Graham and Nyuysemo released OWEN JAMES, who finished from an angle into the far corner with the assurance of a striker who expected the net to receive him.

Marine were behind, but hardly disconcerted. There was, though, some perplexation among the travelling support when Marine’s Joe Shepherd was scythed down outside the Didcot area. Having seen their own Tawana Changa cautioned earlier, the Marine support confidently awaited another yellow card. It never came.

Marine began to impose themselves. On eleven minutes came the equaliser. Zach Rugman’s long throw was only partially cleared and the loose ball dropped invitingly to BRAD HOOPER some sixteen yards out. He looked up, selected his destination, and drove a low shot inside leigh Bedwell’s left-hand post with admirable power and precision. 1-1, and game on.

Didcot remained dangerous. Jenson Wright’s excellent through ball released Owen James, only for the striker to lift his shot over Halliday’s crossbar. At the other end Rugman tried his luck from distance with an effort which seemed to take the faintest touch from Bedwell. The referee remained unmoved and pointed for a goal kick.

Minutes later Tyger-J Hall’s purposeful running drew a foul and Sal Abubakar’s resulting free-kick forced Didcot’s Bedwell into a good save. On the half-hour Marine went ahead. Sal Abubakar’s pace took him first to a loose ball inside the penalty area and, as the defender attempted to recover, the Marine forward was caught and went down. There was no hesitation from the referee. Penalty. SAL ABUBAKAR picked himself up, regained his equilibrium, and sent Bedwell the wrong way.

The remaining quarter of an hour before the interval was rather less volcanic. The two sides increasingly cancelled one another out and the match became a contest for possession and territory in midfield. Much of the second half followed the same pattern.

Five minutes after the restart a flowing Didcot move ended with Lachlan Colquhoun shooting narrowly over. Marine responded through another Rugman long throw, again inadequately cleared. The ball eventually returned to Rugman near the edge of the area and, spotting Bedwell’s position, he tried an audacious lob towards the far post. It curled fractionally too high and settled on the roof of the net.

The game remained delicately balanced. Didcot pushed; Marine resisted. Marine countered; Didcot recovered. There was little between the sides until an incident midway through the half changed the complexion of the afternoon.

Dan Warre, some thirty yards from goal, challenged for an aerial ball with Luke Carnell and was bundled over. The referee, well positioned, awarded Marine a free-kick and produced a red card for the Didcot defender. Luke Carnell was plainly unhappy, but football’s oldest and loneliest journey awaited him: the long walk towards the dressing room and the proverbial early bath.

Against ten men Marine sensed their opportunity. Warre almost provided the decisive blow himself on 72 minutes, twisting and turning away from defenders before sending his shot tantalisingly past the upright. A shame he did not score as his work rate and energy were top notch.

Four minutes later the third goal arrived, and it was worth waiting for. Once again Didcot failed to clear their defensive lines. TYGER-J HALL, with his back to goal, reacted instinctively. His overhead kick arced beyond Bedwell’s desperate reach and into the net. It was an adventurous finish, beautifully executed, and effectively the moment when Marine could begin contemplating the next round.

Didcot, to their credit, continued to attack despite their numerical disadvantage, but found a Marine defence in no mood for generosity. At its heart both Ollie Case and Jowan Partridge were outstanding, repeatedly confronting danger with that oldest and most reliable of defensive arts: putting the ball somewhere considerably less dangerous.

Nor were they left to conduct the resistance alone. In front of them Brad Hooper, Joe Shepherd and Zach Rugman formed a disciplined and industrious midfield screen, closing spaces, contesting second balls, and ensuring that Didcot were seldom permitted an uncomplicated route towards goal. On the flanks, Sam Turl and Tawana Changa were equally diligent, denying the home side’s wide players the room in which to gather momentum.

It was defending without ornament but with abundant purpose: distances maintained, challenges made and danger extinguished before it could acquire more serious intentions.

Post-match Didcot’s management team of Jamie Heapy and Paul Bedwell understandably rued their failure to clear their lines in the build-up to all three Marine goals. Their frustration was justified. A legitimate counter argument could be made that some of the host’s failure to clear was also down to the Marine’s tenacious pressure to keep the ball alive in the box.

Cup ties are not always won by the team which produces the prettiest football. The victors are often the side which makes the fewer mistakes, wins the uncomfortable challenges, finds the energy to press that little bit harder, finishes their opportunities more clinically, and has the discipline to survive those periods when the opposition has spells of possession. Marine did all five.

Manager Bobby Wilkinson was immensely proud of his players, particularly after the physical demands of five matches in fourteen days. He also pointed to the considerable adjustment needed between Wednesday’s difficult surface at Slimbridge and the altogether different conditions at Didcot. His players, he felt, had dug deep to overcome a formidable opponent.

There will be afternoons when Marine play more fluently and perhaps win more spectacularly. However, victories such as this reveal something more valuable about a team. The defence stood firm, the midfield fought ferociously for possession and, when chances presented themselves, Marine’s strikers took them.

This victory offers abundant evidence that good habits are being formed: resilience, organisation, collective responsibility, and a clear determination to become exceedingly difficult to beat. Such qualities are not acquired by accident. They are constructed on the training ground, reinforced in the dressing room, and tested when matches become awkward. At Didcot Marine passed that test.

The FA Cup road continues - that wonderfully uncertain old competition offering no promises about where it might lead, only the enticing knowledge that, for Swindon Supermarine, the journey is not over yet.

Come on Marine!

Attendance: 382

LINE UP’S

Manager:	Jamie Heapy
Colours:	Red & White
Line Up:
No	Player	Goals	Card	No	Substitute	Goals	Card	No	Substitute
1.	Leigh Bedwell GK
2.	Dylan Conlan			15.	Taylor Bedwell 62’
3.	Lochlan Colquhoun		85’
4.	Sam Bailey
5.	Luke Carnell		67’
6.	Adam Learoyd (c)		49’
7.	Jenson Wright
8.	James Glover		24’	12.	Felix Robertson 54’
9.	Owen James	6’	78’
10.	Jordan Graham			15.	Reuben Harry 54’
11.	JP Nyuysemo

Editors Star Player: Owen James
Subs not used: 16. Conor McGrath, 17. Kaiden Heap, 19. Jay Horgan, 19. Finlay Coles

MARINE

Manager:	Bobby Wilkinson
Line-up:	Colours: All Yellow
No:	Player	Goals	Card	No	Substitute	Goals	Card
1.	Joel Halliday (GK)
2.	Sam Turl (c)
3.	Tawana Changa		72’
4.	Olly Case
5.	Joe Partridge
6.	Zach Rugman		68’	17.	Jamie Edge 78’
7.	Sal Abubakar	31’p
8.	Brad Hooper	11’
9.	Dan Warre
10.	Joe Shepherd
11.	Tyger-J Hall	45’

Subs not used: 12. Conor McDonagh, 14. Lucas Wilkinson, 15. Gabe Reivers, 16. Eldad Adjei, 18. Adam Pollock, 20. Josh Blackwell (GK)
The Editors Star Player: Olly Case