18^th April 2023, Marine AFC v Runcorn Linnets FC : 0-0 [Pens:4-3]

History was made on the penultimate Tuesday night of Runcorn Linnets' season, as they contested their maiden Liverpool Senior Cup final, in their first attempt at the competition.

A phenomenal 1,500 Runcorn fans piled into Widnes' DCBL Stadium to witness it.

The ticket allocation for Linnets fans had been increased twice to accommodate demand, and the hosts had to open up the main stands on both sides of the stadium, to maintain segregation between the Runcorn and Marine following. 

The attendance of 2,561 was almost 1,000 more than the capacity APEC crowd that had witnessed the 2022 Pitching In NPL West play-off final between the two sides, in which Marine triumphed 2-1.

And it was the NPL Premier side who came out on top again this time, but only after a penalty shoot-out, when neither side could muster a goal to clinch it in 90 minutes.

Linnets were first to show their teeth in the opposition's third, with Ally Brown and Raheem Hanley threatening, and demanding a scrambled clearance by Kyle Hayde and one-time Linnets favourite, 'keeper Bayleigh Passant. And a James Short ball into the area set up a Cameron Rooney header which lacked the power to trouble Passant.

A first Marine effort, by Akiel Raffie, was blocked at close range by Tom Moore, and from the break, Hanley took on a little too much on his own, and beat two men to reach the area, but was disarmed by Joshua Solomon-Davies.

In the tenth minute, Linnets got the rub of the green plastic, when the ball ballooned into the air from a 50/50 challenge between Mariners centre-forward Joe Bunney and Runcorn 'keeper Danny Taberner. It spun away safely to the side, when it could easily have flipped forward towards the empty net.

A handy spell for Linnets saw a Rooney shot deflected wide by Passant for a corner. Sam Heathcote headed the corner back across the Marine six-yard box, where Sean O'Mahony's diving header was blocked before the line by Johnson.

The first yellow card of the night went to Sam Heathcote, after 24 minutes, for holding on to the ball when Marine wanted to take a throw-in quickly. We had assumed the card had come out for Charley Doyle, who had led with an arm into Sam's face as they clashed on the touchline.

The throw led to a first Marine corner, which James Short blocked and cleared. Another followed a minute later, and it reached Johnson and Howard beyond the far post. Both got a head to the ball, but it flew wide.

Raffie had a run on goal when he outstripped Ally Brown to a loose ball. The artificial surface at the DCBL is markedly slower than the APEC's hybrid, and it foiled a number of attempted passes ahead of Linnets teammates. It seemed that passes needed to be hit a good 25% harder than on Runcorn's home pitch.

Rooney's run and pass right to Brown led to a cross which Howarth headed on for a corner. Another was won from the right, which Passant punched to safety, and a third corner. Heathcote and O'Mahony both had a stab from within ten yards of goal, but Passant saved again. The next corner flew just too long for Heathcote at the far post.

With ten minutes of the first half remaining, the preceding ten had suggested that if a breakthrough was going to occur either way, it was likely to come from a corner kick. 

The best Runcorn move of the game so far came from a Brooke-Hanley switch up the right, setting up a Cam Rooney pass into the area ahead of Matty Birchall, but Passant was out of his goal quickly, and got to the ball an inch before Birchy. 

At the other end, O'Mahony stopped Sol Solomon's charge to the goal-line, resulting in a corner from which Tabs caught a high, looping header.

It was inevitably a corner, punched away by Passant, which enabled Tom Moore to shoot from 20 yards, less than a yard over the bar. Then Tabs did well to palm Jordan Lussey's shot over, going into added time.

James Short took a yellow card for the team, when Bunney turned him near the corner flag and broke inside, only for the Linnets captain to bring him down from behind.

Both sides had created some decent chances in the first half, but both defences had thoroughly deserved to maintain their clean sheet, their efficiency clearly demonstrated by the fact that there had been many more corners than there had attempts on goal.

At half-time, Linnets introduced Eden Gumbs in place of Matty Birchall.

The second half was not to be as even an affair as the first, in which Linnets might justifiably have claimed to have offered a little more of a threat. 

Both defences continued to excel, but the yellow and green rearguard was the busier after the break, and more clinical finishing by Marine might well have brought them the trophy without recourse to a penalty shoot-out.

Two early second half chances for Linnets failed to trouble Bayleigh Passant. Tom Moore shot wide from Eden Gumbs' pass, off a throw-in from the left, and Ryan Brooke turned his man in the area and shot, from James Short's cross, but it trickled to the 'keeper.

Linnets attacking efforts took on a more sparse aspect, and while Marine never dominated possession, they did start to get forward quickly and regularly, often instigated up the right hand side, by right-back Solomon-Davies.

Raffie picked up one of his forward balls, outstripped the turning James Short, and crossed for Howarth, who fired well over the bar when he really should have hit the target. And Raffie shot high himself, after pouncing on a stray pass backwards by Eden Gumbs.

William Johnson received lengthy attention after a 50/50 challenge with Ryan Brooke. He was still holding his ribs as he waited to re-enter the field, but when he did there was no lack of pace in his chase for the ball with Shorty.

After 65 minutes, another Mariners break set up a shot from 18 yards by Akiel Raffie which demanded a great save by Tabs to turn it around the post. 

After the corner had been cleared, Raffie was substituted by Louis Britton. Unless he was carrying a less than obvious injury, it was hard to see why. He had been Marine's best player, certainly in an attacking role.

That said, Britton almost had the immediate opportunity to break the deadlock with a tap-in, but Taberner got down well to intercept Solomon-Davies' cross.

Howarth did similarly well at the other end, to prevent Eden Gumbs from getting on the end of Brooky's flick-on header, from a great Sam Heathcote ball from the halfway line.

Marine were to lose the other two of their three best performers, within the space of seven minutes. 

Sean O'Mahony cleared up from a Sol Solomon cross, after he had slipped past James Short, but Solomon fell badly, and was in obvious pain as he received prolonged attention. He had to be carried from the pitch, to be replaced by Lucas Weir. He attended post-match celebrations on crutches.

Then Solomon-Davies was hurt in a 50/50 jump for the ball. He managed a 60-yard sprint back to his own half, to interrupt a promising run up the left by Cam Rooney, but went down again in pain, and was subbed by Sean Smith.

The changes didn't disrupt Marine's endeavours to find a winner. A free-kick from their left was well defended en masse, Shorty cleared another Mariners corner, and Bunney shot high from the corner of the six-yard box.

With just over five normal minutes remaining, we were wondering whether Marine might end up regretting missed second-half chances. All the more so when Raheem Hanley was almost away from his pursuers, but the ball ran a fraction too long, and Passant was quick enough to get to the loose ball an instant before him.

O'Mahony returned the clearance back to the Marine third, where Rooney shot from the corner of the area, but couldn't muster enough power to worry Passant.

Somebody near me bemoaned the fact that Bayleigh Passant 'always gets in the way when he plays us'. A lot of people say the same thing about Danny Taberner. They are both great goalkeepers.

Ryan Brooke was half a yard offside when he pursued a through ball from the best Runcorn passing sequence since half-time, involving O'Mahony, Short and Gumbs. 

Linnets saw out the remainder of normal time in search of a late cause for Marine regret. Fouls near halfway on Brooke and Moore set up promising free-kicks into the danger zone, as well as another by Shorty from wide on the left, but they were all repelled without any resulting effort on goal.

Five minutes were added, which was the very least amount of stoppage time accrued, but only one more half-chance apiece materialised.

Raheem Hanley became the leading light of Linnets last defensive efforts, and Cam Rooney might have managed a famous last gasp winner, had he not lost his footing when he met Hanley's pass, after Brooke had won an aerial duel just outside the area.

Linnets had reached the final via a penalty shoot-out, at Bootle, and now they would have to do it again.

They were yet to miss one after nine spot-kicks in two shoot-outs this season, but that record faltered when Passant saved the first of the night. Brooky hit it a bit too straight, and having gone the right way, the 'keeper was always favourite.

Tabs dived left for the first Marine attempt, as Lussey slotted it into the opposite corner.

Sam Heathcote converted in identical fashion, and Howarth kept Marine ahead by finding the bottom right corner, although Tabs did appear to get a touch on it.

Tom Moore kept Linnets in touch with an identical penalty to Heathcote's, and Tabs levelled proceedings at 2-2 after three kicks each, getting behind Britton's shot down the middle.

An unusually brief run-up by James Short suggested he was planning to place his kick, but he mis-hit it, and Passant made the easiest of saves.   

Weir found the bottom left corner, and O'Mahony bottom right, beyond Bayleigh's dive, to make it 3-3.

Bunney had the first chance to bring home the trophy, and he did, with a powerful drive into the roof of the net.   

Penalty shoot-outs are a cruel way to lose a game, and Linnets players dropped deflated to the plastic carpet. The victorious Mariners ran to celebrate with their fans, but Bayleigh Passant showed why he remains popular at the APEC, with a gracious exchange of applause with the Linnets fans, before joining his teammates. 

The Runcorn 1,500 showed their team rapturous appreciation for a performance fully worthy of the occasion. Marine manager Neil Young was also generous in his praise for the Runcorn performance, and for the quality of their football, adding his best wishes for the forthcoming West Division play-offs. 

Linnets boss Billy Paynter reported that his players were deeply disappointed to have lost the final. He pledged to help lift the mood in time for the final league game away at Trafford on Saturday, and then over the following seven days the two potential play-off games which will hopefully bring Runcorn face to face with Marine in the NPL Premier next season.

Runcorn Linnets:  Danny Taberner, Ally Brown, James Short, Tom Moore, Sean O'Mahony, Sam Heathcote, Matty Birchall (Eden Gumbs, 45 mins), Louis Hayes (Kieran Nolan, 90 mins), Ryan Brooke, Cameron Rooney, Raheem Hanley.  Subs not used: Adam Moseley, Josh Elverstone, Ollie McFadyen.

Attendance: 2,561.

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