Finlay Sinclair-Smith and Sol Solomon’s goals helped Marine AFC retain the Liverpool Senior Cup title against a resilient City of Liverpool side.

With Marine securing their play-off place in the Northern Premier League on Saturday, attention shifted to their trophy defence in the Liverpool Senior Cup last night against Paul McNally’s Purps.

Mariners started the game in strong fashion, pushing forward through the middle and were rewarded as midfielder Harvey Gregson was taken down by Jack Hont in the box.

Sinclair-Smith dispatched the penalty in the seventh minute to give Mariners the lead, scoring his 25th goal of the season.

City of Liverpool were hemmed in their own half but after half an hour they started to grow into the game, pushing Mariners on the backfoot.

City of Liverpool’s Elliot Morris was electric down the left and created trouble for Mariners’ right-back Scott Butler.

Marine held out to keep a 1-0 lead at half-time.

In the second half, the Purps turned up the heat in their search for a leveller.

Morris and Ishmael Sonko were bright sparks for the Widnes side but failed to breakthrough.

Neil Young brought on the experienced Liam Nolan for Marine to try and control the tempo of the game and settle the Marine nerves.

And it was a successful move as the defending champions doubled their lead through Solomon in the 80th minute.

Owen Robinson swung a cross into the box and the 23-year-old hammered a first-time volley home to double the advantage.

Most of the 1,898 people at Marine Travel Arena celebrated at the full-time whistle as the Crosby club lifted their ninth Senior Cup title and retained the cup for the first time in their history.

Marine boss Young reflected on his side’s 2-0 win over City of Liverpool.

Listen to his views below:

(Featured Image Credit – Marine AFC)

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