Marine manager Neil Young praised his sides display after brushing aside Atherton Collieries as he teased potential additions.
Hayden Campbell was the pick of the bunch as he netted a treble in a 4-0 win as Kielen Adams bagged his first goal of the season on the stroke of half-time.
The triumph saw them end a run of four league games as they moved up to 14th in the Northern Premier League table.
Their win followed a point away at early promotion contenders Ashton United after the 20-year-old cancelled out Michael Phenix’s opener.
Speaking after the match, Young was pleased with how his side broke down their opponents.
He told Off The Park: “I don’t think there’s ever perfect in football as a manager, we’re never happy but I think that’s probably what our performance probably deserved – a win like that. We’ve done well, we’ve changed the shape, still getting lads fit but generally, we were good on the night.
“Apart from the first 10 or 15 minutes when we had to get used to their shape a little bit, they pass and move very well, they’re well coached but after that, we knew if we could break on them, we’ve got some dangerous players in the final third and tonight, we proved that.”
The opening exchanges saw the Mariners fail to manage a foothold and as a result, misplaced a handful of passes. But the Marine boss wasn’t worried with the start, putting the reason down to a surprise change from Colls.
“I wouldn’t say the start was sloppy, it was just getting to grips with their shape, they had a diamond in midfield – which we didn’t expect – they’ve played three at the back, lately, haven’t conceded a goal in four and unbeaten away from home,” he said.
MATCH REPORT: Marine 4-0 Atherton Collieries: Campbell treble sinks Colls
“I didn’t expect them to change so we set up to counter them on a 3-5-2, they changed their shape so it was just getting to grips with the diamond.
“It’s quite difficult to get to grips with a diamond, when we did and we sorted out who was picking up the deep-lying midfielder, when we did that I thought once we broke the game up, we looked good on the counter-attack.”
Campbell’s treble meant it was three goals in four games after securing a point last time out. Adams has found it hard to find form since his move from Macclesfield for an undisclosed fee, but Young hopes that the first league goal will act as a springboard for more this season.
He continued: “Hayden [Campbell] and now Kielen [Adams] is showing tonight and last week why we brought him to the football club and why we put so much faith in him, I think you’ll see as he gets fitter and fitter – more importantly, more confidence.
“You look at him, he’s a big kid, he’s 20, 21 years of age, we have to give him time and hopefully, he’ll start repaying that with goals as he did tonight.
“I thought we were good, we caused problems,” he added on the work of Djavan Pedro, Adams, Campbell and Lucas Weir. “They’re good defensively, they haven’t conceded in four, they haven’t been beaten away – I think that’s right. To get four goals, four of them from two of the players you’ve got to be happy as a manager.”
After missing out on Andy Scarisbrick last week, Marine fans were left frustrated as their search for attacking reinforcements rumbled on for another week.
Following their draw with Ashton, it emerged – via multiple sources in Jersey – that Jersey Bulls striker Sol Solomon had agreed a move to Merseyside which enhanced the excitement around Rossett Park.
Whilst it remains unclear whether, or when, he will put pen to paper on a deal with Marine, Off The Park understands that the club are working on a number of forward options and Jersey Bulls striker Sol Solomon is among those.
But whilst Young was reserved on Solomon, who scored 60 goals in 71 appearances for the Bulls, he hinted at the possibility of more additions.
“We’re still working on stuff, it’s not just Sol [Solomon] there are others, other people we’re talking to currently. I would say by the time we train Thursday night, there will be a few new faces on the training pitch.
“Mainly be at the top end of the pitch, we can’t say who yet because one of them is actually playing for a club tonight, we haven’t spoken to him yet, our seven-day notice isn’t up until tomorrow so we can’t do that – we don’t know about that one.
“We’re in discussions with a league club about a striker who’s played league football, he’s young but he’s good, as we all know we’re in discussions with Sol, but we’re not the only club so we just have to wait at the minute.”
[Featured Image: Susan Nugent]
