Neil Young says Marine have to finish off the season in the “best way possible” as they look to secure playoffs against already-relegated Atherton Collieries.
The Mariners are in a rich-vein of form and could seal their place in the playoffs with a win – joining Macclesfield and Warrington Rylands.
Young’s side have made the perfect response to their defeat to Rylands at the beginning of April, taking maximum points against Morpeth Town and Workington.
“There’s been a lot of people saying we’re not special, we’re not this and that but we’re getting results,” he told Off The Park. “We have a certain way of playing and a certain way of recruitment because we can’t compete financially with teams in the league, we’ll continue to do that.
“We go into a really important period, we’ve got ourselves in a fantastic position, a potential playoff semi-final, we had a good run in the FA Cup and Trophy – we’ve got to finish off and see where we land.
“When you see some of the other managers talk, we’re nothing special, very direct and all these things – not lots of them, but some – that’s what we are. They’re not wrong in what they’re saying but we’re very efficient, we don’t want to be great on the eye but we are efficient in what we do, we work harder than anyone I would say.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position that a lot wouldn’t have thought at the start of the season, we were criticised in pre-season for making a lot of changes but we’ve done nothing yet, what we have done is put ourselves in a position. We have had a good season but we have to finish off in the best way we can.”
Colls’ visit to the Marine Travel Arena marks the final home match of a successful season for the Crosby club. Under Young, there has been gradual growth from the side that was relegated from the Northern Premier League but bounced back with promotion and several memorable cup campaigns.
Nine of their last 10 home matches have attracted over 1,200 supporters. The upward trajectory of the Mariners comes as no surprise to Young with the building process continuing but with the fanbase ever-increasing, there is no reason to let-up, he added: “The fans have been fantastic home and away, the away support has been amazing – Workington isn’t an easy journey but I’ve said the way we are as a club, resource-wise, it’ll take a period of time to build our football.
“It’s well documented we haven’t put the Tottenham money anywhere else apart from the infrastructure of the football club, it’s a slow build and you can see that in our recruitment with where the lads have come from.
“I’ve said all along that it’ll take time to establish ourselves, irrespective of what league we’re in next year we will establish ourselves in terms of players we can attract, it’ll be a slow burner because we’re not going to throw money at it.
“I understand the way we are working, I’m the biggest advocate of it, we’ve got ways of doing things and we’ll continue going that way.”
Colls were relegated as a result on Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to Macclesfield. Marine can book their place in the playoffs with a win and Young has warned of the quality that they possess. He said: “I feel sorry for Atherton because if you look at the results, as the season has gone on they have improved.
“They have been winning in games, conceding late on and some cases conceding two or three. They’ve got good players at the top of the pitch, they’ve got good footballers, they’ll be looking to showcase their talents, we took Harvey Gregson from them and what a season he is having. We’ve got to be on our mettle and we’ve got a job to do.”
