Marine’s FA Cup journey came to an abrupt end as they were defeated 5-1 by Harrogate Town in the first round at the Marine Travel Arena.
A brace from Sam Folarin and goals from Abraham Odoh, Rodney McDonald and Matty Foulds, saw the League Two outfit show their quality to advance to the next round.
A Chris Doyle header brought the Mariners level in the first half, but that would be the high point of the afternoon in Crosby as they crash out of the competition.
The visitors had the ideal start after just six minutes when Odoh controlled Josh Falkingham’s cross at the back post and poked home past Felix Goddard to give his side the lead.
Marine responded well and, after a series of corners, they got their reward when Doyle powered a header into the bottom corner from Louis White’s delivery.
The celebrations did not last long though. Just three minutes later, Folarin latched onto a ball on the halfway line after confusion in the Marine defence before slotting into an empty net.
Neil Young’s team nearly drew level before half-time when Finlay Sinclair-Smith’s delicious looping volley crashed off the top of the crossbar and Sol Solomons dinked finish was miraculously cleared off the line by Foulds.
There are 59 places between the two sides in the football pyramid and the difference showed as Harrogate put the tie to bed in the second half.
A loose back pass by Willem Tomlinson saw Folarin seize on the mistake and calmly slot past Goddard for his second. That knocked the stuffing out of the hosts who never really threatened after the interval.
The misery was compounded for Marine as the Yorkshire side added two more, a lovely left footed finish from McDonald and a header from the impressive Foulds put some gloss on the scoreline as the game petered out.
Marine will lick their wounds and reflect on what was a good cup run that saw them reach the first round proper, while Harrogate will have their name in the draw for the second round.
