Marine have made it through to the 3rd round of the FA Cup for just the second time in their history this season and awaiting them is a home tie against Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.
This is easily the biggest game in the club’s 127-year history, but who are Marine?
Names: Marine Association Football Club. Nicknamed, The Mariners, The Lilywhites.
Founded: 1894
Stadium: The Marine Travel Arena. Capacity, 2,800.
Manager: Neil Young
Marine are based in Crosby, Merseyside, and have regularly played against the likes of Liverpool and Everton in the Liverpool Senior Cup over the years. Marine relinquished their amateur status in 1974 and went on to win three Cheshire League championships before moving to the Northern Premier League for the start of the 1979/80 season.
The club claimed the Northern Premier League title in 1994 and 1995 and have won their divisions equivalent of the League Cup on four separate occasions, most recently in 2016. Since 2005 the club has come very close to earning promotion several times, but latterly the club has had some struggles and narrowly avoided relegation in 2016.
Marine reached the 3rd round of the FA Cup during the 1992/93 season where they went down 3-1 at the hands of Crewe Alexandra. In earlier rounds of the competition, Marine have knocked out two Football League sides before, Barnsley and Halifax Town.
One record that Marine still hold is for the longest serving post-war manager in English football. Roly Howard took charge of almost 2,000 games as Marine manager from 1972 all the way through to 2005. Howard’s last game in charge was in the Liverpool Senior Cup final, which Marine lost 1-0 to Everton.
Marine are performing well in the Premier League Division One North and may challenge for promotion this season.
Sunday’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur is the biggest game in the club’s history and the achievement of scoring a goal against the Premier League side would be celebrated like a victory.
Experienced striker Niall Cummins top scores for Marine this season with 9-goals in 18 appearances across all competitions, scoring 21-goals for the club last season.
Josh Hmami has netted 8-goals in 19 games, Mo Touray has 6 in 13 and both Neil Kengni and Anthony Miley have netted 5-goals in 19 matches, so Marine do carry a goal threat from a number of positions.