Young’s pride as ‘lifesaver’ cup run provides big boon

MARINE’S FA Cup run is over but their long-term future has been secured after a day that left manager Neil Young bursting with pride. Along with prize money from winning seven ties, the eighth-tier side sold 30,000 virtual tickets for this game and the revenue raised will safeguard them at a time when many similar clubs are facing great uncertainty because of the pandemic. Young may have bemoaned some of his team’s defending in the 5-0 defeat but there was more to the game than the scoreline. Marine were treated with maximum respect by Spurs, who presented Young with a dossier they had compiled on Marine. ‘There has been no financial help for teams from step three downwards,’ said Young (below). ‘Clubs like Marine are big parts of the community. Some clubs are teetering on the edge. I hope we have done nonleague football proud. ‘Jose Mourinho said well done. He was very complimentary about the pitch. He gets English football, doesn’t he? Look at the teams he puts out. ‘It would have been very easy for him not to put Gareth Bale on but he respected what we have achieved. ‘I have got so much respect for Jose Mourinho and Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham have supported us wholeheartedly as a football club. ‘It’s beyond our wildest dreams to bring Tottenham Hotspur here. We just wish we could have done a little bit more. Maybe I am being a bit too critical. ‘The run itself has been a lifesaver. I wanted to get everyone who has been here all season and tell them what I thought. I wanted them to know they should be proud of what they have done.’ In the first half Neil Kengni smashed the crossbar with a drive but, other than that, Tottenham had complete control of the contest. ‘We are very happy,’ said Lucas Moura, who scored with a free-kick. ‘This was a different day, new for us to play against them. But we come here with big respect and mentality to win. Our objective in the season is to win trophies.’ Perhaps the biggest goal of all was reserved for 16-year-old Alfie Devine. He is a former Liverpool academy player, signed from Wigan last summer. Mourinho was eager to give him an opportunity and he grasped it, when completing the scoring. ‘A kid of great potential — he is not a stranger around the first team,’ said Mourinho. ‘Step by step he is going. I like him and today is special for him. It was clear that Marine were going to be ready for everything. ‘If they had gone 1-0 up there would have been even more emotion in the game.’