Marine 3 Basingstoke Town 0

Match Report from Pete Crockett

Marine gain three big points!

Swindon Supermarine secured three important points in their relegation fight with a thoroughly professional display.

Marine opened the scoring with twelve minutes elapsed. A sweeping passing move from the back saw the ball find Dave Sims-Burgess in the away team’s penalty area. He took one touch and rifled an unstoppable shot past Simon Grant in the visitor’s goal.

Twenty minutes later Marine doubled their lead with a similar slick build up of passing football from the back. As one spectator in the YUASA stand muttered fears that Marine were going to play themselves into trouble with their passing football in a defensive area they skilfully played the ball out from the back; moved the ball with nifty interplay through midfield to find Michael Fernandes just inside the area; and he, in turn, showed some wonderful trickery to engineer an opening to shoot. The ferocity of the strike again left the visitor’s keeper grasping thin air. An absolutely wonderful team goal.

The second half continued in a similar style with the visitors struggling to create openings against a resolute Marine defence. They did create a half chance two minutes into the second half with a shot from distance that was deflected. The effort seemed to be looping under the crossbar, but a back pedalling Fiachra Pagel did well to tip the deflection out for a corner.

At 2-0 down the visitors pushed forward but in doing so left themselves open to the counter attack. Their difficulties were also worsened mid way through the second half when they went down to ten players due to injury.

Marine should probably have scored a few more in the second half with Harry Williams, Dave Sims-Burgess, and Brad Gray, on a couple of instances, all going close.

In the last minute Ryan Campbell put the proverbial “cherry on the cake” breaking through the Basingstoke defence and finishing with stylish assurance.

The only criticism one could reasonably make of Marine is that they should probably have scored more from the openings that their impressive build up play created.

This was one of Marine’s most professional performances of the season. The keeper and centre backs were solid throughout - with Mat Liddiard putting in an exceptional shift. The two full backs were defensively resolute and overlapped with zeal - Ryan Campbell’s finish for the third was unstoppable.

The midfield had a wonderful mix of trickery from Michael Fernandes, probing passing from Jake Andrews, and high energy from both George Dowling and Liban Ibrahim. The two front men worked hard and looked a constant threat. Meanwhile the substitutes who came on also impressed.

One of the most pleasing features of this victory was Marine’s game management once the opposition went down to ten. Marine kept the ball well and made it tough for their opponents to pose any threat.

So what does the win mean? Well some of Marine’s relegation rivals frustratingly got unexpected wins, whilst others dropped points. However, Marine’s destiny still very much remains in their own hands. Win the next two league matches and they will stay up.

Everything to play for – come on Marine!

Editors Marine Star Man: Mat Liddiard
Editors Basingstoke Star Man: Simon Grant
Attendance: 352

Line Ups

SWINDON SUPERMARINE
Head Coach: Stuart Fleetwood
Colours: Blue & White Hoops
Line-up: 1. Fiachra Pagel 2. Sam Turl 3. Ryan Campbell 4. Mat Liddiard 5. Matt Bower 6. Jake Andrews (c) 7. George Dowling (17. Zack Kotwica 46’) 8. Liban Ibrahim (14. Henry Spalding 83’) 9. Dave Sims-Burgess 17. Brad Gray 72’) 10. Michael Fernandes 11. Harry Williams
Subs not used: 12. Jamie Edge, 15. Ioan Richards
Goalscorers: Dave Sims-Burgess 12’, Michael Fernandes 31’, Ryan Campbell 89’
Cards:
George Dowling 8’, Harry Williams 51’
None
None

BASINGSTOKE TOWN
Manager: Dan Brownlie
Colours: Red & Back
Line-up: 1. Simon Grant 2. Curtis Angel (17. Luis Le Paih 45’) 3. Massimo Giamattei 4. Elliott Bolton 5. James Clark (16. Joe Redmond 68’) 6. William Upton 7. Brad Wilson 8. Simon Dunn (c) 9. Liam Ferdinand 10. Paul Hodges 11. Stefan Brown
Subs not used: 12. Ben Cook, 14. Dan Rowe, 15. Shamar Moore
Goalscorer: :None
Cards:
Massimo Giamattei 15’, Simon Dunn 45’, Stefan Brown 45+2’
None
None

Match Gallery

Click here for Photo’s
Courtesy of Alex White Photography

Match Gallery

Click here for Photo’s
Courtesy of Rob Mashford Photography

Team Sheet

Click here for post Match Team Sheet

Match Officials

Referee: Iain Parsons
Assistant Referees: Mark Pratten, Tom Farlow