Marine 1 Gloucester City 1 (Marine win 4-3 on penalties)
Theo Mayer
21:51, 10 Jan 2026
Gloucester City manager Daf Williams was proud of his players after they were knocked out on penalties by National League North side Marine in the Isuzu FA Trophy on Saturday afternoon.
The game started with Marine on the front foot, putting early pressure on the Gloucester back line, but the Southern Premier League side held firm.
Sion Spence scored the opening goal after a set-piece move found the number 10, who finished well to give the away side the lead after 27 minutes.
That proved to be the only action of the first half, and after the break the Tigers continued to pose a threat despite sustained pressure from City. However, Marine levelled in the 59th minute through James Potter, who produced a superb first-time finish.
It went from bad to worse for City shortly afterwards as Ben Morgan was shown a red card for a late challenge in the 62nd minute, leaving the hosts to hold on for more than half an hour with 10 men.
Despite being undermanned, City showed great resilience to force penalties for the fourth time in the competition this season.
Marine took first, with Leigh Whelan firing the hosts in front, before Joe Hanks responded with a confident spot-kick for City.
Mathew McDonald stepped up next for Marine and kept the pressure on the Tigers by firing past Jared Thompson. Spence then converted City’s second penalty to keep the tie level.
Bailey Marsden made no mistake with Marine’s third, but the same could not be said for Ed Williams, whose miss handed the home side the advantage.
That advantage was short-lived as Thompson saved James Brown’s effort before Harry Emmett converted for City to level things once again.
Sudden death followed, with Finlay Sinclair-Smith calming the nerves of the home crowd by scoring for Marine. Marcus Day was then up next for the Tigers and missed, sending the crowd into elation and Marine through to the next round.
“I thought the lads were magnificent,” Williams said. “Yes, it’s disappointing because I felt we deserved maybe a little bit more for how we played with 11 men, and with 10 as well.
“But ultimately we now need to realign our focus to the league, and if we can display the characteristics we showed today in abundance, we’re in for an exciting and enjoyable couple of months, I think.
“The game panned out exactly how we prepared, and I thought the lads stood up to that magnificently. They’re a good side, they’re doing well in the north, and they’re a really difficult team to play against.
“To a man, I thought we dealt with that well, and we knew we’d have moments. I was a little bit disappointed that we didn’t make it two before they scored.
“I think Emmett and Spence had a couple of great chances, and then obviously they scored shortly before the red card. It became a bit of an uphill battle, but the lads battled and I thought they were outstanding.”
Marine: Barnsley, Brown, Anson, Wardle, Samuels-Smith, Whelan, Marsden, Fielding (McDonald 76), Sinclair-Smith, Thomas (Bell 61), Potter.
Gloucester City: Thompson, Jones (Wildig 76), Morgan, O’Regan, Williams, Phillips (Baidoo 72), Spence, Hanks, Richards-Everton, Day, Emmett.