Witton Substitution:
Will Jones replaced by Jordan Cobley on 68 minutes.
GOALLLLL
Latest Score from The Marine Travel Arena:
Marine AFC 2 Witton Albion 2.
Tom Owens equalises for the Albion on 72 minutes against his former club.
Pinball on the edge of the penalty area and Tom Owens steers the ball into the net to equalise!
Michael Elstone does well down the right and his deflected shot goes for a Marine corner on 74 minutes.
Michael Elstone again with a shot on 76 minutes but River Humphreys does well to get across and block the shot.
GOALLLLL
Latest Score from The Marine Travel Arena:
Marine AFC 2 Witton Albion 3.
Rob Hopley gets his second of the afternoon on 78 minutes to give Albion the lead.
The skipper scores again! A good move ends with Billy Smart cutting the ball back to Rob Hopley who’s there with a smart finish! Albion lead for the first time this afternoon!
Attendance: 360.
Yellow card:
Witton’s Anthony Gardner on 79 minutes for a foul.
Yellow card:
Marine AFC 's Sam Tattum on 87 minutes for a foul.
A Great save by Greg Hall on 90+1 minutes preserves Albion’s lead as Michael Elstone cuts in from the left and unleashes a superb shot on goal.
Danny Shaw gets his head to the corner on 90+2 minutes but can only divert the ball off target.
Charley Edge fires an effort towards goal on 90+4 minutes but it flies over Greg Hall’s crossbar.
Full Time Score from The Marine Travel Arena:
Marine AFC 2 Witton Albion 3.
Just got home and I still can’t feel my fingers or toes. Well worth it tho.
Great 3 points in awful conditions, well done lads :clap :clap
Atrocious weather, relentless rain, very windy and near freezing temperatures. Both teams did well to play for full 90+ minutes. Also it is first time in ages I have seen the linesmen actually make some contribution in decision making. Great 3 points takes us to 17th position. A big thank you to Marine FC for their kind hospitality, a place I always enjoy visiting. Great team effort by our team.
UTA
:clap :clap :clap :clap :clap
Yeah the ref and linesman deserve a mention they were good today. Shame we don’t see more like them.
Well 3 very hard earned points on a dreadful day for football, Marine were pretty direct and physical and got of to a great start catching the Albion defence cold (easy to do in those conditions). Most of us were very surprised to see us back to 4-4-2 with Rob and Will upfront! a shape with our midfielders and strikers that just does not work. Rob Hopley conjured a lovely equaliser and he as ever looked the man most likely to, curling in from the edge of the box. Witton then played better to dominate possesion but created little and Marine punished us from a dead ball played into the near post which was headed home. Second half, Marine were on top but after about 10 minutes Doyle committed an horrendous foul on Will Jones bringing a straight red card and shortly after we took Foley off (a surprise again) to bring on Wilson reverting to 5 at the back Hurray! We started to make our extra man tell but Marine were still dangerous and were battling well, Tom Owens managed to get in position to get a weak shot at goal but the keeper made a howler and let it slip past his hand and it trickled into the net 2-2 and game on! Shortly after that a good spell of pressure and Rob Hopley made it 3-2, again with a decent strike. The game ebbed and flowed then until the dying nervous moments when Marine got of a superb strike from distance only for Greg Hall to make a flying tiptop save to ensure the points for the Albion. The relieved and frozen fans were delighted at the final whistle lol, Lussey played the whole match and showed potential as did Cobley who had a 20 minute or so cameo coming on up front (for Will Jones) looking quick and energetic. A complement to Rob! but in a hard battling game of little real quality my MOM Rob Hopley UTA
From marine…
Marine lost to Witton Albion 3-2 at a miserable Marine Travel Arena on Saturday afternoon with the goals scored by Craig Carney and Chris Doyle for the hosts.
The home side scored with their first real attempt – following a scramble in the box the ball fell just outside the box and Carney done well to drive it home.
Witton threatened to respond quickly and the Marine defence could only cope for so long as, in the 18th minute, Rob Hopley struck a looping shot from the edge of Marine’s area which found Patrick Wharton’s net.
The Mariners’ defence struggled throughout the first half with Jones being a considerable threat in particular but by the 41st minute the home side were 2-1 up – Chris Doyle climbed well to nod in a corner kick.
Against the run of play, Marine had found themselves in a winning position and had to buck up their ideas in the second half if they wanted to keep their hands on it.
Chris Doyle was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Jones early in the second half – John Marsden then made way for Kenny Strickland.
Witton equalised again in the 72nd minute following a mistake by Wharton which gifted Will Jones one of the easiest goals he’ll score.
The visitors finished off Marine in the 78th minute with Hopley securing his brace from close range with former Mariner Billy Smart providing the assist.
Worrying times for the Mariners, we may have a battle on our hands this season.
STAR MAN: ROB HOPLEY
MARINE: WHARTON, TATTUM, EDGE, SHAW, DOYLE, HYNES, CARNEY (MURRAY 80’), IRWIN, MITCHLEY (KINSELLA 68’), MARSDEN (STRICKLAND 57’), ELSTONE
WITTON: HALL, GARDNER, DEVINE, WARDLE, HUMPHREYS, SMART, LUSSEY, OWENS, HOPLEY, JONES (COBLEY 68’), FOLEY (WILSON 58’)
GOALS: CARNEY (2’), HOPLEY (18’, 78’), DOYLE (41’), OWENS (72’)
YELLOW CARDS: GARDNER (79’)
RED CARDS: DOYLE (53’)
ATTENDANCE: 360