Marine FC boss urges players to keep calm heads

Source: Crosby Herald

Apr 1 2010 by Philip Kirkbride


‘KEEP YOUR COOL’ is the message from boss Kevin Lynch ahead of Marine’s clash with FC United of Manchester tomorrow.

Unbeaten in nine matches, the Mariners welcome the breakaway Manchester club to the Arriva Stadium in a fixture last season which attracted over 1400 supporters.

Manager Lynch is urging his in-form players to resist letting their Merseyside pride take over in a battle against the Mancunian outfit and instead repeat the “professional” approach seen in last weekend’s 2-0 win over Whitby Town.

Marine were scheduled to face second bottom Ossett Town on Tuesday night but a waterlogged pitch put paid to the fixture and now rescheduled for Wednesday, the Whites face a jam-packed week ahead.

Lynch said: “People see this match as Liverpool versus Manchester United but it is not and the lads have got to get any notion of this out of their minds. We are just playing a normal team and if you go into the game thinking about this rivalry then you are already beaten; it is just 11 versus 11.

FC United have found this level hard after coming up from the First Division talking about winning the league and the going on to the Conference North and then National. But the best teams in this league have been around for some time and we are finding that out for ourselves.

“We have a clean bill of health and everyone wants to play in the FC match but obviously I can only pick a 16 man squad. It is leaving me with selection headache.

Take nothing away from FC, they are a good footballing side but they are beatable and give you chances.

“These games are great occasions and have really good atmospheres, the type everyone wants to play in.

“You want to showcase your talents in front of a big stage.

“I thought the Whitby Town performance was a professional one. They came to spoil the game and rough us up but the lads didn’t rise to it. Earlier in the season this was the type of match where we would have had someone sent off but they just got on with the job and scored two excellent goals. They deservedly had a man sent off.”

Lynch expressed concerns the Arriva Stadium pitch, currently waterlogged, may not be passed fit for Friday’s match and said the club were exploring the possibility of playing the game on Saturday.

But at the time of going to press the game was still going ahead tomorrow.

For all the latest news on the game visit www.crosbyherald.co.uk