Marine manager Neil Young says his side have to right against Lancaster City following their goalless draw with Hyde United.
The Mariners’ impressive run continued as they remained six points off of league leaders South Shields. A win would’ve seen them leapfrog their opponents and they had the ball in the back of the net twice but saw both goals ruled out.
This weekend marks the reverse fixture between Marine and Lancaster City after both sides played out a draw in the second game of the season when they met at the Marine Travel Arena.
Speaking on the draw with Hyde, Young admitted it felt like an opportunity missed. He told Off The Park: “It feels a bit like two points dropped, we dominated the game for the majority of it, I don’t think Bayleigh’s had a save to make.
“They had a potential penalty in the second-half but we had two goals disallowed, had two great opportunities, the goalkeeper has made a number of great saves and we’ve had a blatant penalty turned down ourselves.
“In the scheme of things, it’s probably two points lost but they were high in the table and we’ve gone toe-to-toe with them and probably been the better side on the side.
“There’s been a lot of opportunities missed throughout the season but every team has a story to tell, I keep saying it, people are forgetting how far we’ve come in a short space of time in two years.”
But the Marine boss is keen for fans to maintain their anticipation but he has issued a demand to his squad.
He said: “Like I said last week, let’s not stop anyone’s enjoyment or expectation, let’s ride the storm but the key thing is, we also keep our feet on the ground and make sure we look after ourselves.
“The most important thing now is getting ourselves right for another very tough tie at Lancaster.
“That was the beauty of going to watch Hyde, it was two birds with one stone,” Young explained after he missed their Liverpool Senior Cup win over Pilkington to watch the Northern Premier League clash between Hyde and Lancaster.
“Very different to the team in the first game we played them, they were very big and robust, on Tuesday they were dynamic and played well, won the game.
‘Dangerous from set-pieces, as we’d expect, and good on transition, it’s another tough game, away from home, early kick-off but we’ve just got to look after ourselves.
‘Lancaster is the next game, tough opponent, there’s no easy games in this league and one we prepare right for. We’ve been not so good with injuries so we need to be right.
“At the time, we beat Guiseley and I thought we were lacking in the final third, we had chances but it wasn’t a great game of football,” he said, casting his mind back to their stalemate in August.
Their previous meeting was one that they could’ve won with the chances they created but the draw came during a difficult period in the attacking third.
He continued: “We were always going to improve, coming from the league below, I think people forget we finished fifth and came up through the playoffs.
“It can’t be understated, we brought a new squad together and on the back of that, we’ve had a lot of injuries, particularly in forward positions and off the back of Jack Dunn now, it’s not been easy but we’ll keep going.
“We’ll be going there to win the game, that’s the key thing, they’ll normally play five – the wingbacks are particularly good.
“The right wing-back is sharp, they’ve got Dale Whitmam who was good in the game in midweek, we’ve just got to try and impose ourselves, hopefully the wind and the rain will hold off to give the pitch a chance but it is what it is, we go in on the back of one defeat in 15, we have to keep going.”
[Featured Image: Susan Nugent]
