MARINE 1, RADCLIFFE BORO 3: Boro kicked-off the festive season with an excellent performance at Rossett Park.
With an injury hit squad Kevin Glendon was only able to name two subs, with Dean Crowther and Phil Denney finding themselves on the bench.
Boro carried over the form they showed in the Unibond Cup defeat at Burscough, but this time emerged worthy winners.
Steve Foster could have given his side an early lead but instead shot wide when in a good position.
With Scott Wilson again dominating midfield, his team-mates were allowed to spread the ball around almost at will
This allowed Richard Battersby and Lee Duffy to race down the flanks to put the home defence on the backfoot time after time.
Boro finally broke through on 25 minutes, when Kilheeney's tame shot slipped through the home keeper's grasp and into the net.
Minutes later it should have been 2-0, but Foster this time headed straight at the keeper.
Such was Boro's dominance that Marine only came into the game in the dying minutes of the half, and even then they found Boro stopper Danny Hurst in form.
They pushed an extra man into midfield for the second half, which had an immediate effect, as they equalised within two minutes of the restart.
It helped to restore their confidence and they then managed to keep Radcliffe at arm's length until the hour mark.
It was then that Duffy blazed a shot over the bar, with the keeper nowhere to be seen.
But Boro did regain the lead 10 minutes later.
Battersby took the ball from just inside his own half to the edge of the Marine box before passing to Foster, he in turn then found Sampson who fired home from an acute angle
With Marine's confidence once more in tatters Foster finally found the target with a contender for "goal of the season."
On the edge of the box and surrounded by three defenders, he somehow managed to curl a shot into the top corner to make it a festive fun away day.
BORO: Danny Hurst, Lee Duffy, Richard Battersby, Stephen Hill, Simon Kelly, Paul McGuire, Scott Wilson, Gary Sampson, Martyn Forrest, Steve Foster, Ciarron Kilheeney. Substitutes: Dean Crowther, Phil Denney.
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