The Northern Premier League

24th November 2015, Marske United v Runcorn Linnets FC : 6-2

STE BIGNALL gives a fans eye view of Runcorn Linnets' midweek trip to Marske in the FA Vase as Runcorn's hopes of making it into the third round for only the second time were ended by the champions of the EBAC Northern League, which has been the dominant force in the competition in recent years.

Marske United 6 Runcorn Linnets 2

THE Linnets players and a surprisingly large gathering of faithful followers made the long journey North East to Marske on Tuesday night for a hastily-rescheduled FA Vase 2nd round tie.

Much has been said about the circumstances surrounding the rearrangement of this fixture with only 48 hours planning time for a highly-disruptive midweek journey, and it was a magnificent effort by the playing staff that so many of them were able to rearrange their time in order to pull on the shirt.

Regardless of this, it's surely something the FA need to look at. Enforcing professional standards on amateur players is nonsensical and has indeed cost our Cheshire rivals 1874 Northwich their place in the competition and the chance of a Wembley appearance.

Withdrawal from the competition the only option that they had been left with considering only six players were available for their rescheduled trip to Morpeth Town on Wednesday night.

There were four key moments that affected this game, and could have led to a different result had things gone our way.

The game started at a thunderous pace on a very heavy pitch. Both sides looked very threatening early on, but it was the Linnets who were carving out chances and took a deserved lead on 20 minutes.

Kurt Sherlock picked up a loose ball and out of nothing turned on the edge of the 18-yard area and curled a dipping shot over the Marske 'keeper, it was a terrific individual goal from a player who is becoming accustomed to scoring goals of that ilk.

The first of the four key moments came on the half-hour mark, Linnets had competed evenly with Marske up until this point but then the pitch started to degrade terribly and, if truth be told, we never managed to get to grips with playing in the swamp-like conditions.

Our usual centre of the park passing game was nullified by the fact the ball hardly moved across the surface, and by the end of the game, it had become the worst pitch that any of us had seen the Linnets play on for many years.

It was in fact the slutchy surface that led to Marske's equaliser, a nothing ball forward deceiving our defence by stopping dead in the mud inside our box - allowing Marske's forward to nip in and chip the ball over the advancing Porter.

Key moment number two arrived two minutes before half-time, Sherlock got in one on one with the 'keeper and his shot was well saved, the rebound falling to Anthony Hickey who scooped a panicked effort over with an open goal at his mercy.

If we had gone in 1-2 up at half-time this tie could have been very different, but instead we went in 2-1 down. Kyle Hamid lost the ball on a Linnets attack, trying to take a touch too many and with our back line caught out of position Marske raced up the field on the counter to smash in their second through a crowd of bodies, seconds before the half-time whistle.

The third key moment came immediately after the break, Marske coming out for the second half much the livelier of the sides to get their third goal within a minute or two of the restart. Linnets, again unable to adapt to the awful conditions, had lost the ball trying to football our way back into the game and this led to a lightning counter attack and finish.

The fourth goal followed soon after, it was difficult to tell if it was by luck or judgement, but a low free-kick was drilled low into the box and tapped in by a Markse player, lurking at the back post, to make it 4-1 to the hosts.

To our credit, we never let our heads slip and Jason Carey, who had come off the bench for Adam Wade, soon combined with Sherlock to make a great run into the Maske area, finishing very well and leaving the 'keeper rooted to the spot to bring the score to 4-2 with half an hour still to play. Game on again.

However, the fourth and final key moment came shortly after, with Linnets pushing for another goal and under little threat from Marske. Dean Porter let a tame effort from outside the box squirm under his body and into the net to revive the hosts three-goal lead and effectively end the game as a contest.

There was still time for Kyle Hamid to curl a free-kick millimetres wide of the post with the 'keeper beaten before Marske got a sixth. Their excellent number 7, who had caused havoc all game tore away up the right wing to unleash an unstoppable shot from 20 yards. It dipped over Porter and found the far top corner for what was an excellent goal.

The game petered out, tired and very heavy legs starting to tell and Marske celebrated a comfortable win in the end. Credit where its due to Marske, they are an excellent side, arguably the strongest we have played for a number of years.

As reigning Northern League champions they were always going to present a tough challenge even without the difficult circumstances. But, once the pitch deteriorated, Marske dominated the game, playing the conditions perfectly with a no-nonsense, direct style of play.

However regardless of the result, Linnets can take a huge amount of pride and credit from this game. For the playing staff, top marks to you for showing such dedication to the club to get yourselves there for this one - you deserved the warm ovation you received at the end of the game.

The suspended Frannie Smith, cup-tied Kevin Leadbetter, unavailable Kyle Armstrong and Kieron Brislen and injured Mark Houghton were the regular players missing.

And to the usual supporters and committee members, even I was taken aback by the fact that we can take 80 or so supporters on a Tuesday night on a 300-mile round trip with only 48 hours notice in the middle of November.

The club will go places with the kind of supporters that we have, and you too deserved the applause that you got from every single one of the players as they left the pitch.

So it's no Wembley visit this year for the Linnets, but we may just have played one of the finalists tonight. Our focus now returns to the bread and butter of league action and while the FA Vase is a nice distraction (sometimes), everyone at the club knows where our priorities lie.

Goalscorers – Marske United: Jamie Owens 34, 45, 66; Adam Preston 48, 83; Nathan Mulligan 56. RuncornLinnets: Kurt Sherlock 18, Jason Carey 63.

Marske United: Dean, Gott, O'Sullivan, Johnston, Myers, Wheatley, Preston, Butterworth, Blythway, Owens, Kelly. Subs: Mulligan, Hood, Brunskill, Briggs.

Runcorn Linnets: Dean Porter, Michael Simpson, Matthew Atherton, River Humphreys, Michael White, Michael Ellison, Adam Wade (Jason Carey), Kyle Hamid, Freddie Potter, Kurt Sherlock, Antony Hickey. Subs (not used): Taylor Kennerley, Adam Donohue, Richie Mottram.

Attendance: 205



NB. The views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Runcorn Linnets FC or its Board.

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