Supermarine suffer shock FA Cup exit

Mark Collier read the riot act to his lacklustre players as Supermarine crashed out of the FA Cup to lower-league opposition for the second straight year. Marine went down 1-0 at Southern League South & West outfit Thatcham Town after a performance Collier labelled “embarrassing”.

Danny Allen squandered a glorious chance to level late on when his late penalty was saved, but Collier admits his side got exactly what they deserved. “That was one of the worst performances I have seen since taking over at this club,” fumed Collier. “I usually stick up for my players but I’m not going to fight their corner after that display. “We gave them some simple instructions, it was not rocket science.

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“About eight or nine players were well below par and you cannot cope with that. To be honest it was an embarrassment.” Saturday’s reverse was a mirror image of last season’s FA Cup First Qualifying Round, when Marine lost at Oxford City. Dave Asker’s first-half strike proved the difference between the sides as Allen saw his late spot kick turned away by Paul Strudley. “The penalty could have got us out of jail, but we didn’t’ deserve anything from the game,” said Collier.

“No disrespect to Thatcham, but we should be beating teams like that. “I think we had 95 per cent of the ball, but we didn’t do anything with it. “For the club this is a massive blow because it was a chance to get some much-needed revenue. “I’ve told the players it’s entirely down to them now. “They need to show me a reaction, show me that they want to play for this club.”

Asker had already gone close to an opener before he fired home from Gavin Jones’s centre after 25 minutes. Luke Hopper should have levelled for the visitors in the first half, but the striker lacked composure. When Edenborough was upended by Gareth Thomas after 89 minutes it looked as though Marine would force an undeserved replay. But Strudley guessed right, and Allen was left holding his head in his hands as Marine fell at the first hurdle.

From a Thatcham perspective... click here