Marine 1 Brixham AFC 2

Match Report from Pete Crockett

BRIXHAM DEFLATE MARINE

The visitor’s journey from Devon was an ill-starred one, a tyre blow out on the M5 and the kick-off consequently deferred by an hour and a quarter. Yet if Brixham arrived inconvenienced they departed invigorated. It was Supermarine who were left punctured at the end.

For 45 minutes the contest appeared to follow a familiar and reassuring script. On a very heavy pitch Marine were brisk, inventive and purposeful. They passed the ball with intent; runners were found; crosses asked questions.

In the 17th minute a fine Rugman delivery located Hemmings beyond the far post, only for Gillard to repel the effort with assurance. Moments later Gbla, lifted the ball over the advancing goalkeeper but saw it graze the outer netting.

There was, however, no reprieve for the visitors midway through the half. McDonagh’s diving header landed on the roof of the net in the 26th minute, and scarcely had Brixham gathered themselves when Rugman’s precise free-kick in the 27th minute was nodded home by SID GBLA at the back post.

At the interval Marine’s supporters had optimism. Their side had controlled the rhythm of the match and fashioned chances enough to have established a firmer advantage.

The second half was another affair entirely. Brixham emerged with a harder edge, contesting every second ball, narrowing the spaces and transforming the game into something more attritional.

Marine, rather than persist with pass and movement were coerced into being more direct themselves. The longer ball became the default, its trajectory hopeful rather than calculated, and too often it served merely as sustenance for visiting centre-halves to whom aerial labour was routine.

Possession drifted towards the visitors whose set-pieces carried menace. On 61 minutes CALLEM ROSE soared emphatically to power home the equaliser, and three minutes later another corner provoked sufficient disorder for KEIRAN PARKIN goal to tilt the balance. Marine, once fluid, had became disjointed and the defending of the two set pieces was, in all honesty, poor.

There were Marine opportunities. A free-kick dropped invitingly for Olly Case eight yards out, but he steered wide. A neat interchange between substitute Sal Abubakar and Sid Gbla culminated in McDonagh heading narrowly over. Yet these were isolated flashes rather than sustained moments of assuredness.

The evening darkened further for the hosts when Tawana Changa’s clearance was charged down and the loose ball fell towards a Brixham attacker running in on goal. Luke Purnell’s challenge on the breaking forward brought a red card for the Marine goalkeeper - assumedly adjudged to have denied a clear scoring opportunity.

With cover retreating and the offence well upfield some would contest the severity; others would muse that had the challenge been against a Marine attacker they may well have hoped to see a red card brandished.

In the closing minutes the game stretched. Gbla’s diving header for Marine deflected just over; substitute goalkeeper Myers saved smartly at the other end; then Brixham’s Herbert ran through only to roll his shot wide. In the final minute Case blazed over in a crowded penalty area summing up Marine’s evening of frustration.

Credit is due to Brixham who overcame both travel misfortune and a first-half deficit with grit and resolve.

For Marine the defeat owed less to diligence than to discernment. Industry there was in abundance; second half invention there was not. Once the game became more direct Marine permitted it to remain so, exchanging the measured construction of the first half for a diet of length and loft, as though repetition might substitute for reason.

The ball was dispatched early and often, but without the angles, movement, second ball pressing, or aerial authority to justify such an approach. It became, in effect, an offering to defenders for whom this was familiar nourishment. The number of second half long balls Marine actually won could, in all honesty, be counted on the fingers of one hand.

What was most perplexing was the contrast with Marine’s recent fluency. On similarly testing surfaces against Inkberrow and Falmouth Marine had trusted in passing, movement, and progression. They had shown the patience required to unpick resistance.

In the second half subtlety and guile was surrendered too readily. There was scant attempt to vary the tempo, to draw Brixham out of shape, to reclaim control through craft.

The lesson is stern. If as a team you allow the pattern of play to be determined by your opponent, particularly when that pattern favours the opponent’s strengths, it risks defeat. This seemed to be what Marine did with their second half performance and it cost them dearly.

Come on Marine!

Attendance: 130

Manager:	Bobby Wilkinson
Line-up:	Colours: Blue & White Hoops
No	Player	Goals	Card	No	Substitute	Goals	Card
1	Luke Purnell [GK]		86’
2	Sam Turl
3	Piotr Petrynski
4	Olly Case
5	Jamie Edge
6	Tawana Changa
7	Zach Rugman			14	Sal Abubakar 67’
8	Max Hemmings (c)			16	Jonny Asamoah 80’
9	Conor McDonagh			20	Lucas Myers [GK] 87’
10	Sid Gbla	28’
11	Brad Hooper

Editors Star Man: Sam Turl
Subs not used: 12 Dayo Sonoiki, 15 Miles Ferguson

Manager:	Jason Couch
Line-up:	Colours: All Red
No	Player	Goals	Card	No	Substitute	Goals	Card
1.	Dan Gillard [GK]
2.	Charlie Stevens			16.	Finlay Herbert 57’
3.	Sam Gleeson
4.	Ryan Beattie (c)
6.	Callum Rose	60’	16’	15.	Aiden Edwards 71’
8.	Cole Harford			23.	Will Hancox 80’		90’	15.	Aiden Edwards 71’
10.	Jordan Ewing
17.	James De Selincourt		37’
18.	Kieran Parkin	64’
19.	Lucas Robinson			5.	Ewan Howarth 76’
20.	Aaron Wellington		21’	15.	Aiden Edwards 71’

Editors Star Man: Callum Rose
Subs not used: 7. Reece Somers