Marine manager Neil Young insists there are “eight massive games” left as they increased the pressure on the playoffs.
Joe Hardy made a goalscoring start to his short-term career in Crosby as he headed in to double the hosts lead against FC United of Manchester.
The man stealing the headlines is top goalscorer Sol Solomon as he added his 12th and 13th of the Northern Premier League campaign with a superb brace.
It was a return to winning ways for Young’s side after they slipped to defeat at home to Guiseley seven days ago.
“It’s a good performance, it’s always going to be a tough game against FC United of Manchester,” he said speaking to Off The Park.
“They have a specific way of playing, they keep the ball well and know their roles and responsibilities. They had quite a number of players missing, so did we, so it was always going to be tough but we got an early goal – which was an absolutely unbelievable piece of skill from Sol.
“I was a little bit disappointing in the last 10 to 15 minutes at the end of the first-half, I thought we gave the ball away too easy in transition, we could’ve done better, opened them up on a few more occasions – which we didn’t.
“The key thing is we’ve kept a clean sheet, scored three very good goals, the debutant gets his goal and Sol gets two, as he does.”
Both of Solomon’s goals will be featured in Marine’s compilation at the end of the season after superb trickery for his opener before squeezing home after rounding Dan Lavercombe.
Young detailed the reaction from the bench for the third goal of the game and the Player of the Match’s response after the match.
He added: “The first goal… I’m telling him it’s a cross, he’s telling me it’s not but it’s an unbelievable skill and I believe him. It’s the type of player he is, he tries the unexpected left-foot, right-foot, then Joe Hardy’s goal is what he does.
MATCH REPORT: Marine 3-0 FC United of Manchester: Sublime Solomon puts the Reds to the sword
“People look at him and think he’s 5 ft 6 in but knows where the net is, put it an area and Joe scores. He’s not played for months and months, he’s lacking fitness in terms of match time and there he is, between two big centre-halves, bang, goal.
“The third goal, Gary one of my assistant’s said ‘Why didn’t you go down, Sol?’ and the next minute it’s in the back of the net. He does what he does from all types of angles and I just asked Sol then and he said ‘well, I don’t take the pens do I? So I thought I’d take the shot on’.”
The season continues heading towards the closing stages and in their first season back at the level, Marine keep pressure on the top five. A defeat for Gainsborough Trinity means Marine are just three points off Warrington Town in fifth.
They move seven points clear of today’s opponents with the win and with the remaining games, Young isn’t expecting it to get easier.
“They’re always difficult games,” he added. “They’ve got injuries, had a bit of illness overnight, young ‘keeper has had to come in but they’re recognised at this level, they went to South Shields this week and got an unbelievable victory.
“They’re organised and they’ve been doing it a long time, it’s good we got a clean sheet because we’re disjointed. We’ve got Kyle Hayde starting, his first since he’s come back, Lucas Weir has come in and give us energy, Joe as well. Lots of changes but we need to keep going, we’ve got eight big games left now.
“In the last 20 minutes before the half, I thought we were getting stretched, we wasn’t pressing as we done in training. We tweaked at half-time and reaffirmed what we expected, if you let them keep stretching the play they’re going to get in eventually, they’re good at it. Overall, very happy that we’ve got the three points.
“We’ve got to worry about the next one. Who knows what’s going to happen, Nantwich have a fantastic result at Gainsborough Trinity today, a defeat and two wins – the game is mad, anything can happen, everyone is looking at doing different things. There’s very few who are not going to go up or go down, what they do is they’ll play with no pressure or just switch off. FC United didn’t today, they gave us a tough game.”
[Featured Image: Susan Nugent]
