When the lights went out during Marine’s FA Trophy tie with Dunston UTS on Saturday, visiting midfielder Phil Turnbull had one thought: ‘We can’t come all the way back here on Tuesday’.
With the game set for abandonment, the two teams left the pitch. The electrician Turnbull devised a plan. ‘I saw one of Marine’s officials and asked where the electrical cut-out was,’ the 34-year-old tells Sportsmail.
‘I explained I did this sort of thing for a living. The club’s electrician had Covid so we got him on the phone. I was playing around with the circuit-breaker in the cupboard, telling him what was live and what wasn’t.
Phil Turnbull (pictured), was on the sidelines trying to fix the floodlights.
Marine came across a Dunston midfielder that was an electrician and he looked into the clubhouse fusebox.
‘We eventually got one of the floodlights back on and another sparky showed up and helped get the others working. Our lads were buzzing — we didn’t want another six-hour round trip!’
Turnbull was unaware that his efforts off the field had become viral via social media. When he returned to the dressing room after a shootout defeat — in which he scored — he checked his phone.
‘There were 300 messages on WhatsApp! I’m thinking, “Eh? What’s going on?” There was a clip on Soccer Saturday of the host saying, “Can he fix it? Yes he can!”
The Marine Travel Arena floodlights were turned on in the second leg of the FA Trophy tie.
‘When I played for Darlington they had a song about me and they’d adapted the words on Twitter… “Phil Turnbull, passes with precision, midfield magician, emergency electrician!” It was all a bit mental.’
Turnbull was also an ex-teacher and was definitely the most bright spark at Merseyside this weekend.
Just after the half-time break, the game was stopped by the Marine Travel Arena floodlights that failed in the Merseyside team’s first round tie.
After the referee stated that the problem must be resolved by 5PM, Turnbull was under immense pressure.
The 34-year old couldn’t solve the problem by himself because he didn’t have any tools. However, assistance was available and play resumed after 50 minutes.
Game could be suspended if it isn’t fixed by the 5pm deadline
Marine’s account on Twitter announced that play will resume at 5.05pm, after the issue had been fixed
Marine, the famous host of Tottenham Hotspur for the FA Cup 3rd Round in January, tweeted his thanks to Turnbull: ‘Thanks @dunstonutsfc for trying to fix out floodlights.
A crowd of 1,202 watched the match. The score was level at 0-0 in the 53rd minutes. The match ended at 2-2. Marine won 5-4 with penalties.
Although the electrics champion did score in the shootout, Turnbull’s heroics on pitch proved futile.
Marine was not the only non-league team to experience technical difficulties at the weekend. Floodlights were also out during Hampton and Richmond FC’s National League South fixture against Braintree Town.
Merseyside Club wanted to express their appreciation for the efforts of midfielder on social media
However, Richmond and Hampton were not as lucky as Marine that Turnbull was available to help them and the match ended with Braintree winning 1-0.
On Twitter, the club stated: “A power outage at Braintree Town has resulted in the game being abandoned.”
‘We do apologise for this and for those with tickets for today’s game are advised to keep hold of them and further information on the re-arranged fixture will be out soon.’
Hampton and Richmond had to have a laugh with Merseyside Club over the shared Twitter woes.
Marine shared an amusing joke with Hampton and Richmond FC FC over the shared floodlight problem.
The club announced their National League South game against Braintree Town was suspended