Marine 1 Portishead Town 2

Match Report from Pete Crockett

DISPUTABLE LATE PENALTY DENIES MARINE A POINT

The late-autumn sun was generous in light but quite bereft of warmth, casting its benign glow over a decidedly un-benign afternoon at the Imagine Cruising Stadium. It was felt most keenly in the fingertips and through the soles of the feet - that first wintry intimation the chill rising from concrete through shoe leather.

Both sides arrived on four-match unbeaten runs. Marine, however, were depleted by a pre-match virus that removed two of their principal goalscorers.

The early probing was almost pugilistic in tone, each side coolly suspicious of the other. The first real strike came on ten minutes, George Alston’s free-kick thudding into the wall, his follow-up skimming narrowly wide.

Alston, lively again on 25 minutes, outfoxed his full-back and arced a fine cross to the back post where Sal Abubakar rose impressively but his header cleared the bar.

The contest felt, at that stage, lodged in its groove when on 27 minutes calamity intruded: a muddled misunderstanding between visiting goalkeeper and centre-half gifting JOE BEARDWELL the simplest of open goals. He accepted with thanks and deserves credit for the pressure he applied.

By now the home disquiet had attached itself to the referee who produced cautions for Marine players with brisk certainty while comparable Portishead offences appeared to pass beneath his personal threshold of illegality. Irony duly bloomed on 44 minutes when the visitor’s Sean Keet finally saw yellow to loud ironic cheers from the home support.

The second half resumed in that same cautious attritional timbre. Sal Abubakar’s mazy run and rifled cross-shot could not quite be turned in by a stretching Joe Beardwell, while at the other end Portishead’s Mitch Osmond thundered a far-post header just too high.

Then came the twist. On seventy-four minutes Sean Keet, already booked, was dismissed for a second caution. Paradoxically it galvanised Portishead. Within moments ETHAN FELTHAM surged into the box and finished superbly across the keeper and into the corner of the net for 1–1.

The match at last caught fire. Marine’s George Alston curled a beauty toward the far post, brilliantly saved by Ryan Thacker; Ethan Feltham at the opposite end then blazed a gilt-edged chance over the bar.

And then at the death the moment that will be discussed longest. A soft penalty awarded to the visitors after a coming-together in the box. KYLE EGAN converted calmly down the middle. It would be fair to say that by this point in proceedings teams and spectators seemed totally bemused as to what would and would not be deemed a foul.

Each decision was its own surprise episode often with a plot twist thrown in. Alas, the referee’s one true consistency was inconsistency; to strive to seek pattern was an act of folly akin to ploughing sand.

Portishead, it must be said, were tigerish with ten men and showed laudable resolve and tenacity. Marine, who had battled nobly for seventy honest minutes will feel stung by the manner rather than merely the fact of defeat.

Marine manager Bobby Wilkinson afterwards praised his side’s application for the first seventy minutes but lamented the preventability of both goals. He noted that Marine had surrendered possession too easily in phases of play prior to the final incident.

Marine go again on Monday at home to Bashley, the New Foresters arriving on the back of a 1–0 defeat at Tavistock.

Come on Marine!

Attendance: 254

Manager:	Bobby Wilkinson
Line-up:	Colours: Blue & White Hoops
No	Player	Goals	Card	No	Substitute	Goals	Card
1	Luke Purnell [GK]
2	Sam Turl (c)
3	Tawana Changa
4	Olly Case
5	Josh Blythe
6	Josh Grant		80’
7	Sal Abubakar
8	Jamie Edge			12	Max Hemmings 84’
9	Joe Beardwell	27’	21’	16	Jonny Efedje 60’
10	Zach Rugman		32’
11	George Alston

Editors Star Man: Josh Blythe
Subs not used: 14. Owen Foye, 15. Joe Selman, 17. Sid Gbla,

Manager:	Kye Mountford
Line-up:	Colours: All Red
No	Player	Goals	Card	No	Substitute	Goals	Card
1.	Ryan Thacker [GK]
3.	Aron Robbins			15	James Byrne 65’
4.	Jamie Adams			5	Hamesh Hurst 71’
6.	Ollie Woodhouse
7.	Jay Murray			17	Lucas Vowles 46’
8.	Mitchell Osmond
9.	Ethan Feltham	39’
10.	Kyle Egan (c)	90’p
12.	Jayden Neilson		51’	11	Jack Thorne 61’
16.	Tom Llewellyn
18.	Sam Keet		46’, 71’

Editors Star Man: Ethan Feltham
Subs not used: 13. Fin Croft