Neil Young insists that Marine’s defeat to Warrington Rylands mustn’t “deter” them from their playoff ambitions.
Two former attackers came back to haunt the Mariners on Monday as Mo Touray and DJ Pedro were on target in a 2-0 defeat.
Young’s side offered a threat going forward but failed to test Luke Pilling in the Blues goal for the majority of the contest.
When the goalkeeper was called into action, he was equal to the danger – making a superb save to deny Matty Waters – while the woodwork came to the rescue to maintain the clean sheet when Sol Solomon’s stinging effort rattled the post.
Young told Off The Park: “They were the better team on the day overall and in the game. They have a certain way of playing that is good, they sit in and wait – they have good players to do that.
“They (can) hit you on the break, which they scored both times from, we give the ball away and they’ve went through the middle of us – two good finishes.
“We didn’t get going until the last 25 minutes, we had chances, we hit the post and balls flashing across the box – you have to take them in these tight games.
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“We had a number of opportunities but you can get carried away with playing football or going long, you have to find a way, we were trying to play first-half and they were tight to us, it wasn’t conducive to playing. In the second-half, when we put it on top of them, we were a bit more lively, because we didn’t look lively enough – we looked off the pace.
“You have to give great credit to them, that’s why their second in the league and they were the team on the day.”
He added: “I don’t think we done enough in the game. When they regain possession, the front two get into good positions, we know Mo obviously, we didn’t cut off the supply and played in the wrong areas, ultimately we give them two sloppy goals.”
Defeats leaves Marine fourth while wins for Macclesfield and Rylands sees them open up a four-point and five-point gap, respectively heading into the final four matches of the season.
Hyde United, however, suffered defeat at home to the Silkmen to remain three points behind Marine, with a far inferior goal difference. Meanwhile, Ashton United fired themselves into the playoff picture with a win at FC United of Manchester.
Marine’s approach play was naive and repetitive at times as James Butler dominated, winning his aerial duels. Young rued an off day for his side but issued a defiant response that there is plenty at stake in the final four league matches.
“We look at the bigger picture, we said eight games ago that we need to win as many as we can – we’ve won three and lost one – you have to aim for that,” Young said.
“The pleasing thing for me is we’ve created chances without being great, we just take it and move on. It’s three points, we go on to the next game, it wasn’t a title-decider, we’re trying to get in the top five places so this wasn’t us v them to win the league, it’s to get in the playoffs.
“If we can do that, it’ll be a massive achievement as a football club from where we’ve come from, it doesn’t excuse that the performance wasn’t at the level it should’ve been at.
“Butler was outstanding, he was really good but if you keep putting the ball in and around the lad, he’s good in the air,” he continued.
“I thought he was outstanding, he took my eye today, he done really well and defended superbly. Even second-half, we had chances, wrong decisions – we talk about decisions from the referee… wow, I’ve never seen obstruction from someone taking a shot and falling on the ball, but there you go. Credit to Rylands they were the better team on the day, they deserved their victory.
“We’ve had a good season, we can’t let one result deter what our aim is and before this run, our aim was the playoffs and the Liverpool Senior Cup final – if we can do those things, we’ll have done really well. They’re second in the league, we’ve lost the game and that’s ultimately what it is, we’ll learn from it and hopefully we’ll get enough points but that’ll only be determined by our next four games.”
