Big week ahead for Morpeth Town after defeat at Marine

The Highwaymen found themselves a goal behind after just four mintes when a speculative cross-shot by Josh Solomon-Davies found the far corner to give Marine the lead.

The Northumberland outfit responded superbly, scoring two in two minutes to take by the ninth minute.

First, Ben Sayer spun the ball round the corner, putting Jack Foalle in behind the defence. He picked out Matty Cornish who cut it back for Ryan Donaldson to lash home off the underside of the bar to equalise.

Two minutes later, Foalle raced on to another Sayer ball over the full-back before cutting back for Andrew Johnson to lash home his fifth goal of the season.

A contentious penalty levelled matters on 34 minutes when a Marine player shot wildly over the top inside the box on the right before connecting with Morris on his follow through.

With the defender not seemingly making a challenge, the award of the penalty left many baffled. Jordan Lussey brushed off the protests to net in the 34th minute.

Then another moment of controversy as keeper Passant inexplicably ran the ball, in his hands, out of the box and purposefully juggled it to safety and was awarded a yellow card.

Marine were quickly out of the blocks in the second half with Britton the man to deliver the goal, bundling an effort in from close range after Sol Solomon’s excellent build-up play caused chaos on 52 minutes.

The 4-2 win was sealed on 85 minutes when Solomon got his goal, latching on to a threaded through ball to slot home.

Manager Craig Lynch, speaking to the club’s YouTube channel, said: “The goals which we conceded are very disappointing.

"We’ve come away to a very hard Marine team and at 2-2 started getting a little bit complacent. The second two goals in the second half have killed us and aren’t good enough from a defensive point of view.”

Morpeth now face two crucial home games in the next week against relegation threatened Liversedge (Tuesday) and Nantwich Town (Saturday).