Marine FC, draw number 11, 14th September 2013, 15:00 at The Arriva Stadium

It is the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup 2013/14, and in this round teams that are 6 divisions lower than the Premiership big boys are entered.   Our winner Curzon Ashton from the Preliminary Round has drawn an away tie against Marine FC.

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Marine FC is located near Crosby in Merseyside in the North West of England.  Crosby is by the Irish Sea. Crosby beach is the permanent home to Antony Gormley’s art installation Another Place.  The work consists of cast iron sculptures of Anthony Gormley’s body that face out-to-sea, spread over a 2 mile stretch of beach. Each figure is 6ft 2 ½ inches tall and weights around 1400 pounds.  The British Sculptor also created the Angel of the North near Newcastle – I visited it during the Extra Preliminary Round and added a photo (see blog post - The game on the 17^th August 2013). 1980s comedian Kenny Everett is also from the area so everything is done in the best possible taste.   

Marine FC was formed in 1894 by a group of local business men and former college students - taking its name from a Hotel on the River Mersey sea front.  They moved to their present ground The Arriva Stadium (formerly known as Rossett Park) in 1903.

Marine’s best performance in the FA Cup was reaching the 3^rd Round Proper in the 1992/93 campaign - they were beaten 3-1 by Crewe Alexandra.  They have achieved 10, 1^st Round Proper appearances and 2, 2^nd Round Proper appearances - making them the first team in our blog to have a good FA Cup pedigree.  Curzon Ashton did have one excellent FA Cup run in the 2008/09 season when they reached the 2^nd Round Proper.   

Marine FC play in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League and this season they are in 7th position with 11 points from 6 games. Curzon Ashton plays 1 division lower in the Evo-Stik Northern Division One – they are still in 1st position with 12 points from 4 games.  It looks like it may be an evenly matched game with Marine FC as slight favourites.

My blog guest Frazer Sanderson (Sandy) will be going to this game on the 14^th September and reporting on the day’s events. 

As you can see from the map, The Arriva Stadium (B) is 52 Miles from Tameside Stadium (A - Curzon Ashton’s ground).  Our FA Cup journey has travelled 88 Miles in three rounds from its current home in Wigan to Marine FC, via Ashton and Curzon.