Match Report: Lancaster City 4 Marske United 1

Marske manager Graeme Lee made two changes to the side beaten at Matlock Town with Nathan Thomas and Jake Hackett replacing Josh Robertson and Eddie Church, who both dropped to the bench.

Marske were without Donald Chimalilo due to a broken nose suffered in the closing stages at Matlock, though they were able to include new signing Camron Gbadebo, most recently at Wingate & Finchley, and he was named on the substitute’s bench.

Marske lined up in 3-4-3 formation with Josh MacDonald playing as the right sided centre back with Nathan Dale in midfield alongside Jason Kennedy.

It was the home side who started the best, with Jake Connelly heading wide from a left wing cross after 2 minutes.

It was soon apparent that the Lancaster long throw was going to be a potent weapon; firstly Andrew Teague headed high over the bar from a long throw in the corner, but the home side weren’t to be denied and led on 7 minutes.

Again, it was a long throw that caused havoc in the Marske box, Teague rose above Kennedy and veteran Simon Grand was on hand to hook the ball over the stranded Nathan Harker and into the net.

It could have been 2 on 13 minutes but Harker did superbly to tip over a 25-yard effort from Charlie Bailey for a corner. However, it was 2-0 from the resulting corner when Harker was pinned on his own line by a Lancaster player and was unable to claim the ball, leaving Grand to bundle the ball home from close range.

Marske’s first chance arrived on 17 minutes when Matty Cornish and Thomas combined to set up Adam Boyes, but his effort was deflected over for a corner. The first yellow card of the game arrived on 19 minutes when referee Melissa Burgin, following the edict from the FA, booked Lancaster’s Brad Carroll for throwing the ball away after Marske had been awarded a free kick.

Grand was being a real handful for the Marske defence whenever the home side had a set piece and had a chance for his hat-trick on 24 minutes when Teague beat Kennedy in the air but Grand’s hooked shot went wide.

Two minutes later, Charlie Bailey fired high over the bar after Marske were unable to clear as the home side continued to dominate. It was pretty much game over on 28 minutes when Myers got on the wrong side of Carroll and brought the winger down in the box, giving referee Burgin the simple task of awarding a penalty.

It looked as if Niall Cowperthwaite was going to take it, but the ball ended up being given the Grand, who was looking for his hat-trick and the centre back made no mistake, firing the ball down the middle.

Marske tried to counter and Boyes shot over the bar, before Kev Burgess became the first Marske player cautioned for a foul on veteran David Norris. It went from bad to worse for Marske on 32 minutes when a Lancaster free kick found Teague unmarked at the back post and he headed past Harker. The last action of note of the first half saw Dale cautioned for a pull back in midfield.

Half Time: Lancaster 4 Marske 0

The home side made a change at half time with Teague replaced by Matthew Clarke who was into the action early on, drawing a routine save from Harker. On 54 minutes, a neat short corner routine between Thomas and Dale ended with a shot from Cornish, which was well saved by Andre Mendes in the Lancaster goal.

Marske were showing a decided improvement on their first half showing without the reward of a goal though, on 63 minutes, a decent effort from Thomas was deflected for a corner.

With 25 minutes left, Marske made a triple change with Cornish, Thomas and Hackett replaced by Gbadebo, Church and Lewis Leech, which necessitated a few changes in position, with Gbadebo playing as the right hand side centre back, allowing MacDonald to move to right wing back; Leech slotted in next to Kennedy in the centre of midfield with Dale moving to the left sided centre back which allowed Myers to play as left wing back.

On 69 minutes, an excellent run from Round ended with a shot from 20 yards which went just over the bar and a minute later another excellent run, this time from Church saw his shot curl just away from goal. Gbadebo, who looked comfortable on the ball and, on 74 minutes, the defender strode forward with purpose, but the shot didn’t match the run and went well wide.

A minute later a deep corner from Round was headed over by Burgess, before Marske got the reward that their second half show deserved with a consolation goal on 80 minutes. Boyes flicked on a long ball forward into the path of Round who finished expertly, sliding the ball under the body of Mendes.

With 4 minutes left, it was nearly 5-1 when a poor ball from Burgess put Dale under pressure and he lost the ball to Connelly who fired comfortably wide. The last action of the game saw Church cautioned for an innocuous foul as Marske exited the FA Cup with a whimper.

Full Time: Lancaster 4 Marske 1

Teams:

Lancaster: Mendes, S. Bailey, Brownhill, Barnes, Teague (Clarke), Grand, Carroll (Turner), Cowperthwaite, Norris (Lawson), C. Bailey, Connelly

Subs (not used): Jarvis, Butterworth, Deighan, Stevenson

Marske: Harker, MacDonald, Myers, Kennedy, Burgess, Dale, Cornish (Church), Hackett (Gbadebo), Boyes, Thomas (Leech), Round

Subs (not used): Robertson, Yaqub

Marske United MoTM: Curtis Round

Match Report by Mark Hathaway, Photo by Emma Hathaway