Competition

Date

Saturday 13th November 2010

Marine's unsung heroes make their mark

Supermarine have spent the last week basking in FA Cup glory but some of the club’s unsung heroes made sure they didn’t slip up in the league on Saturday.

Forwards Luke Hopper and Steve Cook, and recent goalkeeping acquisition Will Puddy have been losing the battle for column inches in the wake of Marine booking a second-round trip to League One Colchester.

The trio duly stepped forward to take their own share of the limelight in a gritty 1-0 league win at Evesham. As has frequently been the case in recent weeks, Hopper and Cook began the game on the bench but the duo were introduced to the action in the second half and combined to score the only goal of the game in the last minute. At the other end, Puddy, stepping in for former loanee custodian Mark Scott, underlined his credentials with a dominant clean sheet to make sure of the points.

It was a job well done as far as manager Mark Collier was concerned. “Evesham is soulless, it’s a great big ground with no-one in it and it’s a very difficult place to go,” he said.

“It wasn’t a particularly good performance but it was a good result and that’s what you need when you go to a place like that. “We were below par in the first half compared to the standard we have set ourselves recently. “But we were better in the second and the lads we brought on all played a big part. “Justyn McKay did well in midfield and the two lads up front linked up for the goal. “These lads that have been on the bench during our cup run have never moaned, they’ve got on with it and proved they can make a big contribution. “We’ve always said we need an entire squad to keep winning football matches, not just 11 players, and we’ve proved that. “Puddy was very good too. He’s a very confident boy which I think you need to be as a goalkeeper and that clean sheet will do his confidence the world of good and that confidence will filter through the rest of the team.”

The hosts had bossed the first half, with Marine looking exposed without experienced defender Matt Robinson - rested to protect him from breaching the yellow card limit ahead of the Colchester trip. But when Evesham did bludgeon chances, Leo Brown and Sam Mensah were both denied by Puddy. The ex-Salisbury keeper then stopped a Danny Scheppell set piece and rushed out to parry from Brown as Marine toiled before the break.

Collier reshuffled the pack and Marine looked a steadier ship in a dull second period. As the game passed into stoppage time a solid draw suddenly became a welcome smash and grab as Cook raced clear down the right flank and squared for fellow sub Hopper to stroke home the decider with the final kick of the game.

From a Evesham perspective: