North Leigh v Marine Preview

Match Preview from Mike Wray

Marine round off the Easter programme with a derby trip to Oxfordshire on Monday afternoon, when they face the Millers in a 3:00pm kick off.

League Positions & Points:

North Leigh - 20th / P38-W9-D5-L24 / 32Pts
Marine - 6th / P38-W9-D8-L11 / 65pts

Just as Marine have been embroiled in the hunt to reach the playoffs, the battle at the opposite end of the standings is just as fascinating for those involved and hoping to avoid the drop and a brilliant 2-0 win over leaders Weston-super-Mare towards the end of last month followed by a narrow 2-1 defeat at Poole Town on Good Friday saw coach Aaron Woodley remain in optimistic mood that North Leigh could be one of the sides to avoid relegation.

“We’ve got another game on Monday so we can’t afford to dwell on dropped points today,” he said following defeat in Dorset.

“We’ve got another massive game on Monday. Supermarine play Bracknell tomorrow [Saturday], so that’s going to knacker them out because Bracknell are easily one of the best teams in the league, so fingers crossed they give Supermarine a really tough game so when they come to us having played 90-minutes on Saturday, they’ve got to come to us on the hill, and if it’s anything like the game when we played at their place [the Webbswood Stadium], I’m more than confident that we’ll be able to come away with a victory and kick on.

“All we can do is beat the teams in front of us. We’ve got four games left and four wins is all we can do really.”

We’ll expect former Marine defender Leon Morrison to feature but on loan striker Conor McDonagh will not play as prt off his loan deal agreed between the two managers. Both joined North Leigh at the end of March 21and have played in their new sides two league games so far, with Conor netting a goal in each of those games.

Looking ahead to the match-up, Supermarine manager Lee Spalding said: “I said to the boys in the changing room after the defeat to Bracknell – there’s no time to feel sorry for yourselves, it’s a case that we’ve just put in a really strong performance and we need to take the positives out of that game and making sure we continue where we left off.

“North Leigh are down the wrong end of the league and are scrapping for their lives. Its not an easy place to go, the pitch is not great but its down to us to make sure that we go there and do it properly.”

Leading Goalscorers:

North Leigh - Jordan Thomas / 14 league goals
Marine - Harry Williams / 30 league goals

Last Time We Met:

Southern League Premier South - Webbswood Stadium, Swindon, Monday 26th December 2022
Marine - 2
Goalscorers: Conor McDonagh 32’ Harry Williams 54’
North Leigh - 1
Goalscorer: McCreadie 38’

Match Report & Photo’s from our last encounter:

Click here to view the Match Report Conor McDonagh receives the ball on the edge of the area after the players kept possession with twelve successive passes and he scores the opening goal

Conor McDonagh and former Marine player Michal Hopkins tussle for the ball
Photo © Rob Mashford Photography Match Album

Admission Prices:

Adults £10, Concessions £5, U16s £2

Coach Travel:

Due to the short distance to this game, no coach travel is available

Other Pitching In Southern League Premier South games:

Easter Monday 10th April 2023
Bracknell Town vs Beaconsfield Town
Dorchester Town vs Poole Town
Gosport Borough vs Hartley Wintney
Hanwell Town vs Hendon
Hayes & Yeading United vs Chesham United
Merthyr Town vs Yate Town
Met Police vs Harrow Borough
Salisbury vs Winchester City
Truro City vs Plymouth Parkway
Weston-super-Mare vs Tiverton Town

Keeping up-to-date on game day:

If you can’t join us at the game, you can follow the action via our official Twitter account @SupermarineFC, where we will have regular updates throughout the match. We’ll have updates on our Facebook page and game highlights will follow on Supermarine TV.