Marine's players escaped the warm-up from hell without injury before kicking off in the EVO-STIK League's top flight at Hednesford on Saturday!
Manager Tommy Lawson, his side and club officials were forced to hastily abandon the team coach when it burst into flames soon after 1pm with the Satnav showing they were just three minutes from Keys Park.
Nobody was hurt in the blaze which started at the back of the luxury coach and was put out by two fire crews who arrived on the scene within minutes after being alerted by an alarmed motorist following behind.
A local woman and medical professional who also stopped to offer assistance to anybody who'd been hurt, she's has been thanked by the Mariners and invited to a home game at the Marine Travel Arena as guest of honour.
Pictures and videos of the spectacular fire went viral on the net within minutes of being posted, prompting both ITV Sport and the Match of the Day team at BBC Sport to contact the EVO-STIK League Premier Division club's relieved officials for permission to use them on their websites and programming.
The Mariners are looking forward to a more uneventful journey returning home to Merseyside on the replacement coach from Ogdens Travel that had thankfully arrived by half-time.
Marine chairman Paul Leary said: “It was horrendous. The whole back of the bus just burst into flames. The players were at the back with the officials up front and the most important thing is that everybody got off okay and nobody was hurt.”
