Marine want to recapture FA Cup magic in FA Trophy

The Pitching In Northern Premier League side have gone from strength to strength since hosting Spurs, installing a new 4G pitch and seeing their average attendance rise from around 400 to over 1,000.

The Mariners faithful will be on the road to Teesside this weekend, Mo Touray’s late goal enough to see off National League North side Scarborough in the second round, and Young wants his side to draw on their cup memories as they look to stage another memorable run.

He said: "The Spurs game changed us as a football club really. We have been able to put a new 4G pitch in, we have renovated all the bars and improved our community.

"The FA Cup and FA Trophy have been really good to us over the last few years and it would be great to reward those new fans with a win against Marske United.

"It is every non-league footballer's dream to get to Wembley if you possibly can.

"I am not saying we are going to get there, but the only thing you can do if you want to get there is win the next game.

"It would mean everything to us if we could go one step further and get into the last 32."

Marine have something of a psychological edge over Saturday’s opponents having won August’s league meeting 1-0 and Young is expecting another closely-fought encounter.

"If both teams are honest, we will both be looking at this game as an opportunity to progress to the next round because we both know each other so well,” added Young, whose side are one of more than 200 to be financially supported by Northern Premier League partners Pitching In.

"The league game could have gone either way and it will be a tough away trip for us, they had a great result in the last round against Matlock.

"But I have got great belief in the team and we have improved a lot as we have progressed through the season."

Ladbrokes, with the support of its owner Entain, has launched a multi-million-pound investment programme, Pitching In, designed to support and promote grassroots sports. For more details see: https://entaingroup.com/sustainability/pitching-in/

Photo courtesy of Andrew Coe