MARINE LIFE IS READY FOR ITS NEXT ADVENTURE

MARINE boss Neil Young will enjoy a bit of R&R today after a long FA Trophy trip to Cambridgeshire, watch the Manchester Derby — and then start preparing for League Two Harrogate Town.

- MATT BADCOCK

The NPL Premier Division have walked this FA Cup path before, famously reaching the third round in 2020-21 where they were drawn against Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur.

Young knows a repeat of anything like the magnitude of that occasion is a long way off as they first plot how to upset Simon Weaver’s League Two side.

“We’ll probably get back the early hours of Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon will be the Manchester Derby and then I’ll be into Harrogate getting everything prepared for training on Tuesday,” Young, whose side took on St Ives in the Isuzu FA Trophy yesterday, told The NLP. “I’ll meet the analyst Monday night to prep everything to have the lads in on.

Analysis

“We’re game after game at the moment — Saturday-Tuesday. On Tuesday I got home from Guiseley at 12.50am, worked Wednesday and Thursday and then down to Cambridgeshire on Friday for the FA Trophy. Then we look into the FA Cup.

“We know it’s a very, very difficult task to progress. But we have had that experience. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no players here from that cup run now but we know as a staff that we’ve been down this road before.

“So, from that perspective, we know what we’re going to have to do, the levels we’re going to have to reach to compete in that game.