Marine humbled as Curzon Ashton teach latest bitter lesson
Marine suffered a second successive defeat as Curzon Ashton ran out deserved winners.
Nobody said the National League North would be easy but Marine are finding it much harder than their rivals - after tasting that familiar sinking feeling in a 2-0 defeat at home to Curzon Ashton.
The early-season table, traditionally, doesn’t tell the story but the problems are becoming persistent. Mitigating factors have played their part, lack of a settled squad, players out of form but the increasing problem is their attacking struggles - headed by an injury to striker Bobby Grant.
Marine have shown they are capable of mixing it with some of the National League veterans, namely their wins over Buxton and Chorley, but their two wins are the only bookmarks in what is becoming a gruelling campaign.
On Tuesday, like they were against Hereford, were outplayed, outwitted and beaten by a well-drilled Curzon side. The hosts were looking for a response from Saturday’s drubbing at the Bulls.
It was only seven days ago that Neil Young’s side stunned high-flying Chorley but the uncertainty is increasing, not over player availability, but what Marine will turn up.
Marine find themselves in the bottom four, with a game in hand but sit five points from safety. The first-half showed promise and there were moments of ascendancy but they failed to make it count.
A moment of madness shortly after the restart handed the playoff-chasing Nash an opportunity to take advantage. Stefan Mols wasted no mistake to calmly slot past Matty Corran, sending the Wigan Athletic loanee the wrong way.
Six minutes later, Young had seen enough and made a wrath of changes. The switch had the desired impact with an injection of impetus into their attack.
Marine probed and came close when substitute Fin Sinclair-Smith’s cross drifted agonisingly wide of the post.
Hope was sucked away when David Worrall pounced on a loose ball, audaciously securing the win as he lobbed a despairing Corran.
Here are the takeaways from Marine’s 2-0 defeat against Curzon Ashton.