SUPERMARINE manager Dave Webb admitted his side were taught a serious footballing lesson as Marine crashed out of the FA Cup after a 6-0 First Qualifying Round thrashing by AFC Totton. Marine were second-best for much of the game against their Southern Premier opponents, with the south coast side scoring three goals either side of half time to claim an easy victory.

Richard Gillespie, Dave Allen and Michael Gosney all scored twice as the Stags swept Marine aside to book a place in the second qualifying round.

Webb was disappointed with his side’s performance, but was quick t acknowledge how well their opposition had performed.

“Of course I’m disappointed, but we have to acknowledge the quality of Totton today,” said Webb. “They showed us what we should aspire to be in two or three years’ time. When you compete in the Southern Premier League that’s the sort of quality and professionalism you have to expect, and they showed it in abundance.

“I feel disappointed for everybody because we didn’t turn up, but the players I’ve had here have been first class, and they’re all disappointed. “It was a bad day, and it’s hard to take, but let’s give credit to Totton because that’s what we have to aspire to. “We looked tired, we had no spark. I don’t think we made a tackle – we stood off, paid them a lot of respect and didn’t perform at all.”

Gillespie gave the visitors the lead after 12 minutes with a deft finish, before he turned provider to supply Allen with the chance to head home.

Totton’s third came from Gosney’s mazy run and finish, before Allen added his second with a cheeky lob over Kent Kauppinen.

A superb solo effort from Gillespie made it 5-0, before Gosney completed the rout.

Webb was without a number of senior players for the cup clash, and was not happy with his side’s preparation.

“There’s no excuses, but we needed some of our more experienced players out there today,” explained the manager.

“Dave Bampton was missing due to a family bereavement, Craig Curtis pulled up in the warm up, so we had to field Tom Cole who’s just come back from holiday, so we couldn’t have had worse preparation for the game.

“We managed to get 45 minutes out of Ashley Edenborough which was a positive, after he had been out for three weeks, and we’re hoping in the next couple of weeks we’ll get a few players back and we’ll have more competition all over the pitch. “We’ve been coping admirably with just one forward in Josh Parsons, who is also playing with a knock.”

Parsons’ first half strike was one of Marine’s few serious attempts on goal as they were outclassed from start to finish, but the Marine boss was still keen to take some positives from the game.

“I’ve learned a lot about what we want to be,” he said. “We’ve learned as a team and I’ve learned as a manager. We need to work hard this week and put this right on Saturday against Yate.

“Our league is all about consistency. We went to Abingdon, played very well and got a 3-1 win, and on the back of that got two 1-0 wins against top six sides, so we know we can do it but if that’s the level of players in the Southern Premier, we’ve got a lot to improve.”