Report: Marine 2 Moors 1

Moors were knocked out of the FA Cup on Tuesday night as two goals from Sol Solomon were enough to book Marine their place in the Third Round Qualifying.

Jamie Chandler’s men had twice led in the original tie, but the Merseysiders kept on fighting to force a replay and they were clearly pumped up for the game from the first whistle.

With Moors ravaged by injuries to key players, Marine sensed their opportunity, and they bossed the first half on the back of a swirling wind which they used to their advantage well.

Mariners skipper Josh Wardle sent a shot just wide after pressure from a corner, before Will Russ and dangerman Manasse Mampala both fired efforts over from a tight angle.

The breakthrough arrived on 26 minutes when Mampala wriggled inside from the right to let fly and his scuffed shot landed perfectly at the feet of Solomon who showed great composure to tuck the ball past James Montgomery.

Such was Marine’s dominance, Moors were probably thankful to reach the halfway point only one goal behind and with hopes being that they could recover with the winds at their back.

However, just six minutes after the restart it was 2-0. Solomon was released through the middle of the Moors defence and clipped a shot beyond Montgomery which seemed to be drifting wide until the Marine front man pursued it to knock it home from close range.

Try as they might, Moors couldn’t regain a real foothold in the tie. Connor Shanks turned into the box dangerously only to be denied by home keeper Felix Godderd, while Sam Fielding drove a shot wide from 20 yards.

At the other end, Montgomery was forced into a fine save to deny Louis White as his shot took a deflection and threatened to loop into the Moors net.

Reece Staunton’s marauding run was almost rewarded with a goal as he progressed from the halfway line right into the home side’s penalty area only to aim his shot straight at Goddard.

Corey McKeown was introduced and could have reduced the arrears when he wandered into real space on the edge of the box but curled his shot too close to Goddard, while Montgomery was once again in the action to deny Solomon his hat-trick with a good save at his front post.

As injury time approached, Moors did grab a goal back as a deep corner in from the right was met by Glen Taylor who steered it past Goddard to set up a tense period of injury time.

However, Marine defended stoutly and saw the game through to the final whistle to set up a tie with Hyde United in a fortnight’s time.

Full Time: Marine 2 Moors 1

Marine: Goddard, Ferguson, Woodthorpe, Carberry (Doyle 74), Spittle, Wardle, Lussey (Tomlinson 73), White, Russ, Solomon, Mampala.
Subs not used: Cowderoy, Sinclair-Smith, Osei, Burton.

Booked: Carberry (45), Wardle (77)

Moors: Montgomery, Ferguson, Curtis, Staunton, Popoola (McKeown 54), Ramshaw, Fielding, Gallacher (Mouat 78), Shanks (Doherty 69), Harris, Taylor.
Subs not used: Anderson, Atkinson, Johnson.

Booked: Taylor (25), Harris (90), Ramshaw (90)

Referee: Jonathan Maskrey

Attendance: 660

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