Date: Tuesday 31st March 2009
Competition: Unibond League Premier Divisioin
Venue: Valarie Park, Prescot, Merseyside
Attendance: 259
Ticket In: £7.00
Programme: £1.50
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Total: £8.50
Well as matches go, this one is so appealing on the eye that it leaps out from the fixture list like a jack in the box that hasn’t seen daylight in five years. Prescot Vs Marine is the closest thing to a league derby for the two sides so the importance of winning will be further magnified, not that it wasn’t important in the first place as both teams seemingly couldn’t win a tombola at this present time. Despite an encouraging start to the season, Marine have dropped like a stone to a lowly (by their standards) 13th position after a long streak of defeats and narrowly missing out 2-3 against FC United of Manchester at the weekend. 
Prescot’s disastrous run of results continued at the weekend with a 0-3 defeat to promotion hopefuls Ilkeston Town. So if the rivalry somehow wasn’t enough, both teams badly need to put the brakes on their respective skids and Marine will be out for revenge after their 3-6 defeat by the hosts on Boxing Day, Prescot Cables last away win!
Entering the ground this afternoon, it’s still daylight and mildly warm with the fresh smell of spring in the air, summer football is just around the corner and what a welcome return that will be. The sides make their way out onto the field to raucous noise from the supporters, Prescot Cables in their home strip of amber and black with Marine in a changed combination of their usual white shirts but green shorts. As the match got underway it was clear this was going to be a fairly open match as both sides had chances within the first 10 minutes. Prescot won themselves a corner kick in the 4th minute when a free kick was delivered into the penalty area on the ground and a great sliding challenge from a Marine defender at the last minute sent the ball behind the goal, the resultant corner was taken short but was eventually dealt with by the Marine defence. Marine’s chance came a lot closer to producing a goal as after some patient build up play, a neat cross into the penalty area from Karl O’Donnell was turned away for a corner after just missing the far post. Whilst all this was going on, a battle of the fans was emerging off the pitch as a lone Prescot drummer and a group of Marine fans attempted to outdo one another, Marine coming out as knockout winners as Prescot’s lone one man band was lost in the noise. At the 20 minute mark approached, the game became a lot scrappier as a Marine player was booked for diving and Prescot over hit a pass when a neat one would have created a great opportunity to break the deadlock.
Marine then laid a mini siege to the Prescot goal when a Karl O’Donnell shot was put out for a corner by Cables’ Steve Williams. The delivery of this corner was headed towards the back post where it was put out for another corner, which was delivered in and hit the post directly from the delivery, going behind for a goal kick and Cables had successfully weathered the storm. The Marine fans were appealing for a penalty kick in the 32nd minute when a cross from the wing by Joe Doyle bounced around like a pinball in the penalty area before a Marine player hit the deck claiming a push. Well, maybe a gust of wind blew him over or something, but in any case referee Duncan was correct in not awarding the spot kick. But the deadlock would eventually be broken in the 37th minute when some calamitous Prescot defending would see Marine take the lead. A bursting run into the penalty area saw Prescot keeper Andy Paxton pull off an impressive save from close range, but he could only deflect the ball back into the penalty area as two Prescot defenders attempted to clear the ball and Andy Paxton couldn’t gather the spill. A great overhead kick from Peter Cumiskey sent the ball goalwards and Prescot defender Lee Smith headed the ball into his own net to give Marine the lead. But Smith atoned for his blunder at the other end straight away as he latched onto a loose ball 30 yards out from goal and thundered the ball past Marine keeper Sean Lake to level the scoring in emphatic fashion. 
Right at the end of the half, Cables keeper Andy Paxton had to be alert when a free kick from out wide was played into the penalty are heading for the corner of the goal. No player in the penalty area managed to get a touch and Paxton made a fine save to his left to turn the ball behind for a corner kick. The two goals had been the only real highlights in a somewhat flat derby match, both sides having been fairly average but with Marine looking slightly better. A sloppy goal cancelled out by a blinding shot, but otherwise little to report.
Half Time:
Prescot Cables 1 – 1 Marine
The first chance of the 2nd half fell to Cables in the 52nd minute when a long ball was picked up and crossed into the box. The ball was nicely headed to Cables forward Steve Williams, who blasted his powerful shot just wide of the post. Prescot had another chance in the 57th minute when Jamie Croxton got beyond the Marine defence and fired off a shot only for the outstretched leg of a Marine defender to deflect the ball over the crossbar for a corner. The delivery of the corner couldn’t be cleared by the Marine defence and Cables ended up winning another corner, which Marine managed to get under control. As the half wore on, Prescot launched an assault on the Marine defence that was well withstood, but Prescot sensed the win was there for the taking, only for it to be cruelly dispelled from them as the match entered the last seconds of injury time.
After Andy Paxton had made a brilliant save to deny the visitors the lead minutes earlier, Marine won a free kick after Paul Woolcott beat three Cables defenders before being brought down by Karl Bell. The free kick was delivered in to the penalty area and Tony Davies rose the highest to head the ball past the outstretched dive of Paxton and into the net to send the travelling supporters into ecstacy and break the hearts of the home crowd. Not 30 seconds later, the full time whistle sounded and the match was over.
It’s an exceptionally cruel way to lose a football match, but a fantastic way to win it! The sheer extremes of emotion that will have been felt around the ground and the fans put through, for Marine’s jubilation there will be Prescot’s agony.
The game on the whole was nothing spectacular as both sides were pretty level throughout spells of the game. Its somewhat hard to focus on anything other than the closing seconds of the match as this will be the talking point, but the soft goal that Prescot conceded in the first half has cost them dearly at the full time whistle. Congratulations to Marine.
Full Time:
Prescot Cables 1 – 2 Marine
Prescot’s disastrous run of results continued at the weekend with a 0-3 defeat to promotion hopefuls Ilkeston Town. So if the rivalry somehow wasn’t enough, both teams badly need to put the brakes on their respective skids and Marine will be out for revenge after their 3-6 defeat by the hosts on Boxing Day, Prescot Cables last away win!Entering the ground this afternoon, it’s still daylight and mildly warm with the fresh smell of spring in the air, summer football is just around the corner and what a welcome return that will be. The sides make their way out onto the field to raucous noise from the supporters, Prescot Cables in their home strip of amber and black with Marine in a changed combination of their usual white shirts but green shorts. As the match got underway it was clear this was going to be a fairly open match as both sides had chances within the first 10 minutes. Prescot won themselves a corner kick in the 4th minute when a free kick was delivered into the penalty area on the ground and a great sliding challenge from a Marine defender at the last minute sent the ball behind the goal, the resultant corner was taken short but was eventually dealt with by the Marine defence. Marine’s chance came a lot closer to producing a goal as after some patient build up play, a neat cross into the penalty area from Karl O’Donnell was turned away for a corner after just missing the far post. Whilst all this was going on, a battle of the fans was emerging off the pitch as a lone Prescot drummer and a group of Marine fans attempted to outdo one another, Marine coming out as knockout winners as Prescot’s lone one man band was lost in the noise. At the 20 minute mark approached, the game became a lot scrappier as a Marine player was booked for diving and Prescot over hit a pass when a neat one would have created a great opportunity to break the deadlock.
Marine then laid a mini siege to the Prescot goal when a Karl O’Donnell shot was put out for a corner by Cables’ Steve Williams. The delivery of this corner was headed towards the back post where it was put out for another corner, which was delivered in and hit the post directly from the delivery, going behind for a goal kick and Cables had successfully weathered the storm. The Marine fans were appealing for a penalty kick in the 32nd minute when a cross from the wing by Joe Doyle bounced around like a pinball in the penalty area before a Marine player hit the deck claiming a push. Well, maybe a gust of wind blew him over or something, but in any case referee Duncan was correct in not awarding the spot kick. But the deadlock would eventually be broken in the 37th minute when some calamitous Prescot defending would see Marine take the lead. A bursting run into the penalty area saw Prescot keeper Andy Paxton pull off an impressive save from close range, but he could only deflect the ball back into the penalty area as two Prescot defenders attempted to clear the ball and Andy Paxton couldn’t gather the spill. A great overhead kick from Peter Cumiskey sent the ball goalwards and Prescot defender Lee Smith headed the ball into his own net to give Marine the lead. But Smith atoned for his blunder at the other end straight away as he latched onto a loose ball 30 yards out from goal and thundered the ball past Marine keeper Sean Lake to level the scoring in emphatic fashion. Right at the end of the half, Cables keeper Andy Paxton had to be alert when a free kick from out wide was played into the penalty are heading for the corner of the goal. No player in the penalty area managed to get a touch and Paxton made a fine save to his left to turn the ball behind for a corner kick. The two goals had been the only real highlights in a somewhat flat derby match, both sides having been fairly average but with Marine looking slightly better. A sloppy goal cancelled out by a blinding shot, but otherwise little to report.Half Time:
Prescot Cables 1 – 1 Marine
The first chance of the 2nd half fell to Cables in the 52nd minute when a long ball was picked up and crossed into the box. The ball was nicely headed to Cables forward Steve Williams, who blasted his powerful shot just wide of the post. Prescot had another chance in the 57th minute when Jamie Croxton got beyond the Marine defence and fired off a shot only for the outstretched leg of a Marine defender to deflect the ball over the crossbar for a corner. The delivery of the corner couldn’t be cleared by the Marine defence and Cables ended up winning another corner, which Marine managed to get under control. As the half wore on, Prescot launched an assault on the Marine defence that was well withstood, but Prescot sensed the win was there for the taking, only for it to be cruelly dispelled from them as the match entered the last seconds of injury time.
After Andy Paxton had made a brilliant save to deny the visitors the lead minutes earlier, Marine won a free kick after Paul Woolcott beat three Cables defenders before being brought down by Karl Bell. The free kick was delivered in to the penalty area and Tony Davies rose the highest to head the ball past the outstretched dive of Paxton and into the net to send the travelling supporters into ecstacy and break the hearts of the home crowd. Not 30 seconds later, the full time whistle sounded and the match was over.It’s an exceptionally cruel way to lose a football match, but a fantastic way to win it! The sheer extremes of emotion that will have been felt around the ground and the fans put through, for Marine’s jubilation there will be Prescot’s agony.
The game on the whole was nothing spectacular as both sides were pretty level throughout spells of the game. Its somewhat hard to focus on anything other than the closing seconds of the match as this will be the talking point, but the soft goal that Prescot conceded in the first half has cost them dearly at the full time whistle. Congratulations to Marine.Full Time:
Prescot Cables 1 – 2 Marine
