Marine A.F.C beat Halifax Town FC 1-0 at The Shay Stadium for a classic FA Cup upset in the Fourth Qualifying Round.
The victory means they will go into the hat for the First Round Proper draw.
Marine opened the scoring after just eight minutes. Louie White latched onto Finlay Sinclair Smith’s through ball and finished with a left-foot strike into the bottom right corner.
On the counter, Sinclair Smith passes to White on the edge of the box and Louis slots it past the keeper low and away for the lead.
FC Halifax Town 0-1 Marine https://t.co/7l4SsDhGKw
— Marine Football Club (@MarineAFC) October 14, 2023
The Merseysiders took control with close efforts from Sol Solomon and another from goal scorer White. Halifax keeper Sam Johnson was called upon twice more in the first half to deny Sinclair-Smith and Willem Tomlinson.
The Shaymen’s best and only chance of the first half came as Tylor Golden broke into space down the right-hand side and following a surging run, the full-back fired his shot over the bar.
The home side who came out of the blocks fastest in the second half as Neil Young’s men had to survive an early onslaught. Strikes from Luke Summerfield and Kane Thompson-Sommers were saved by Felix Goddard. The German keeper had a good game, to keep his clean sheet.
Goddard saves comfortable again but the match has the feel of injury time rather than only 57 mins in.
FC Halifax Town 0-1 Marine— Marine Football Club (@MarineAFC) October 14, 2023
Marine offered little to nothing attacking wise after the break and were content with sitting back and soaking up the pressure from the home side. Their only opportunity came when substitute Darius Osei failed to hit the target. Halifax’s Florent Hoti wasted a golden opportunity inside the box in the 84th minute, and despite The West-Yorkshire outfit’s dominance the Mariners stood resolute.
The victors have a quick turnaround as their next fixture sees them hosting Macclesfield at Rossett Park on Tuesday.
