Competition

Date

Saturday 30th October 2010

Match Report By Ned Payne of the Swindon Advertiser

Marine progress after nine-goal thriller By Ned Payne » Swindon Advertiser A half-time dressing down from team management inspired Swindon Supermarine to come from behind to beat Paulton Rovers 5-4 in an FA Trophy second qualifying round blockbuster. Marine trailed 2-1 to their lower-division opponents at the interval, having given a performance that was a shadow of their winning display against Bath City in the FA Cup last Tuesday.

 

But stern words from manager Mark Collier and a several verbal volleys from assistant boss Tom Jones spurred the South Marston outfit into life, with a double from Steve Cook and further goals from substitutes Luke Hopper and Sam Morris securing a late win, after Nick Stanley had scored their opening goal from the penalty spot in the first period.

 

The result means Marine have now suffered just one defeat in 16 games and netted them £3,000 in prize money, but Collier was far from content with the performance. “First half we were as poor as we have been for a long time,” said the manager. “Jamie Gosling’s come off at half time but there were five or six that could have been dragged off. “There were some harsh words spoken and Tom (Jones) has got right into a few of them. “I said it wasn’t good enough, there were people missing from the game and they had to be better. “Tom decided to be a bit more direct in his choice of words and everyone stood up and agreed that was the case. “Overall, we have shown enough endeavour, even when we weren’t at our best by a long, long way, to go and score five goals and we could have scored more.”

 

Marine found themselves 1-0 down after 20 minutes when Rob Claridge despatched Matt Cooper’s nod-down into the bottom corner. Stanley levelled matters soon after when he sent Kyle Phillips the wrong way from the penalty spot, after the wide man was bundled over in the area. Cooper smashed a fabulous drive into the top corner just before the break, before Collier and Jones voiced their displeasure during the interval.

 

The rollocking worked wonders as Marine scored three times in 11 minutes. First Cook scored within 40 seconds of the restart when he slotted home from a narrow angle, and after Cooper was denied what looked a clear penalty at the other end, Cook was on hand to roll home the loose ball after Hopper’s shot had been blocked by Phillips. Hopper made it 4-2 when he latched onto a through-ball and rounded the Rovers stopper with ease, but Cooper brought the home side back into it with a crisp strike after 71 minutes, and then a simple near-post corner from Ben Cleverley resulted in Cooper completing his hat-trick with his head. Desperate to avoid a replay, Marine threw men forward and they got their reward in the 88th minute, when Morris’ close-range shot deflected into the net off a defender.

 

Match Report from a Paulton perspective