Marine manager Neil Young has reaffirmed the importance of the next game as they look to keep the pressure on at the top against Glossop North End.
Debutant Luke Clark scored the all-important goal in their win over 1874 Northwich, last weekend. But Young noted problems with the Marine Travel Arena pitch with stifles the Mariners.
Warrington Rylands maintained their spot at the top of the Northern Premier League West table with their win over City of Liverpool but Marine’s win moved them into second.
Young explained, speaking to Off The Park: “You always take results over the performance but it’s about getting the job done, it’s always tough this time of year. I think it’s well documented, the pitch isn’t in great condition so it levels the game a little bit more, but yeah it’s just about getting over the line at the minute.
“I thought we could’ve won the game by more, I think they had one shot in the first half that Bayleigh [Passant] saved. We had a few good chances, especially late in the game, Josh Solomon-Davis had a good chance, we had another good chance a bit of pinball in the first half.
“I thought we should’ve won it by more, I said to the lads before the game we’ll take 1-0 if we’ve got to and that’s what we did.
“It [the pitch] makes it very difficult. As you can see on Saturday, you look at the players; we’re playing with Wignall, Kengni and Jack Dunn in behind Owen and that’s about getting the ball into them, getting them to turn and get the fullbacks higher.
“It was quickly evident that was going to be very difficult, the lads lose a bit of confidence, have to go long because every time you roll it into midfield, it bobbles to people so they go long then it becomes a basketball game.
“That gives the opposition an opportunity in transition to get behind you, we’ve not worked on being that type of team, all our work is getting into the pockets, in behind, when it becomes direct you’ve got to get the second ball more and becomes a different type of game.
“That gives the opposition a chance in transition and from set pieces. I’ve asked the club to look at it again, I’ve been asking them for a few times and they’re having another look at it with the company who do the pitch.
“To be fair, there’s a lot of football played on that pitch, there’s another two clubs on there I think. There’s a lot of football on there so I appreciate it’s difficult but this is a massive six weeks for us. Depending on what pitches are going to be like, depend on what sort of team you pick.
“It was tough for Jack, the pitch didn’t allow him or us to get him on the ball. He worked very hard for the team out of possession. Luke [Clark], got the goal, he’s a good talker – which helps because we’ve quite young and not as mature and established in terms of experience.
“I thought they both had solid debuts, like I said a little bit tougher for Jack, he’s all about getting on the ball and creating, the game got stretched, we couldn’t get it down and into them players in behind Owen.
“Every game’s tough. Glossop, we know what they’re like. Glossop at home was tough, they scored early doors. We were good that day in terms of we were very relentless.
“But they never stopped, you know they’ve got a decent home record, they give everything, we’ve got to match them for effort and hopefully get on the right side of the result. It’s another tough game, it’s been proven recently that anyone can beat anyone, every game is tough and we only have to look at our game on Saturday.”
[Featured image: Shootin’ It Photography]
