Competition

Date

Saturday 5th December 2009

Collier ecstatic with Marine win

» By Ned Payne Swindon Advertiser

Swindon Supermarine erased the memory of their heavy defeat to Farnborough by recording a fine 1-0 away win at Evesham United in the Southern League Premier Division. Luke Hopper’s second goal of the season, seven minutes from time, was enough to lift Supermarine up to 16th in the table following the St George’s Lane encounter. The result was in stark contrast to the 7-0 hammering by Farnborough the previous week, delighting Hunts Copse chief Mark Collier.

 

“Everybody in the dressing room from the kit man right through to myself understood the importance of a reaction from last week,” he said. “You can feel sorry for yourself or you can roll you sleeves up. We deserved our victory and worked very hard for it. “That’s three big points against an in-form team and six points from nine against the top two and Evesham.”

 

Supermarine had to withstand an aerial bombardment from Robins stopper Nathan Vaughan - as well as his back three - who hit the ball forward at every opportunity on Saturday. “They have got a keeper that can kick it for fun, both out of hand and off the deck as well,” explained Collier. “They had a physical approach about them and the three at the back got the ball forward quickly. “That put us under lots of pressure but we coped very well with it. We were very resilient and disciplined.”

 

Hopper settled the match in the 83rd minute as he directed in Nick Stanley’s corner at the near post, and Collier praised his front man in the light of his winner. “He did particularly well because he played up front on his own, which is a tough ask against big centre backs,” said Collier. “It’s only his third or fourth game (since coming back from a knee ligament injury) so he’s still finding his feet. He worked very hard and reaped the benefits.”

 

From a Evesham perspective ~ Match Report to Follow