Magpies boss Andy Preece paid tribute to Marine, after they kept his side at bay before hitting them with a three-goal sucker punch.

Chorley started on the front foot and looked good in attack in the early stages, the hosts, meanwhile restricted only to a couple of corners on the counter-attack.

Neil Young’s side began to turn the screw as their corner count rose to four, Matt Urwin forced into a smart save down low to deny the hosts.

The Magpies responded with a couple of half-chances of their own, Matty Corran kept busy in goal, saving once from Mike Calveley before he tipped Dubem Eze’s shot onto the post.

Action from Chorley's defeat at Marine (photo: David Airey/dia_images)

placeholder image — Action from Chorley's defeat at Marine (photo: David Airey/dia_images)

Corran continued to keep the home side in the game, making five first-half saves as Chorley continued to knock on the door.

It would be the hosts who would hit the front first though, Enock Lusiama finding the back of the net against the run of play on 41 minutes.

Preece’s side looked to respond after the restart, but, quickly found themselves with a mountain to climb; Lusiama again, right place, right time to tap-in at the back post and grab his second.

The hosts were then awarded a penalty on 62 minutes, Finlay Sinclair-Smith sending Urwin the wrong way to make it 3-0.

From there, Marine, to their credit, managed the game well defensively to stand firm, keep a clean sheet and claim all three points at the Marine Travel Arena.

Preece said: “Credit to Marine, they did really well, worked incredibly hard and they had to, first half, to keep us out.”

Chorley remain joint-top in National League North, behind Scunthorpe United on goal difference, as The Iron also suffered defeat at Spennymoor.

CHORLEY: Urwin, Moore, Smith, Blakeman, Calveley, Horbury, Clarke, Eze (Rice 89), Hewitt (Ormerod 60), Touray (Carr 60). Subs (not used): Bird, Henley.