Marlow shock the Royals
Marlow are through to the final of the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup after a stunning penalty shoot-out victory over Reading FC’s u21s academy side on Tuesday evening, and manager Mark Bartley will now get the chance to plot the Blues first victory in the competition since 1994.
Back then John Major was the country’s Prime Minister and Bill Clinton was US President, while nonleague Oldham Athletic were playing in the Premier League.
But the Blues will get the chance to write a new chapter in the competition when they take on either Bracknell Town or MK Dons at Ascot United’s Racecourse Ground on April 25, with those two sides set to face off for a chance to meet Marlow next week.
This semi-final tie was a thriller from start to finish, with Reading taking an early lead through Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan’s penalty, but Marlow responded well, with Khalid Simmo turning the ball home after Dawid Rogalski’s shot had cannoned off the post before half-time. Both sides were reduced to 10 men early in the second half after a melee involving Matty Carson of the Royals and Marlow’s
Tom Soares, and the extra space seemed to favour the visitors, who retook the lead through
Ehibhatiomhan’s second in the 74th minute. But, in the sixth of eight minutes of injury-time, captain Chris Ovenden popped up with a dramatic equaliser and the hosts then held their nerve to win 5-4 in the shoot-out.
They were aided by their rather vociferous home supporters who made Reading’s penalty takers feel the pressure as they stepped up to take their kicks. Louie Holzman and Jay Senga missed for the Royals, while Aaron McLeish-White hit the crossbar, but Louis Rogers, Simmo, Ovenden, and Kouadio Ehui kept their cool to send Marlow through, with Aaron Watkins making two penalty saves on his return to action from injury.
“I thought we deserved it,” said
Bartley. “So, it was pleasing to get over the line. There was a good atmosphere, and we have a contingent of young supporters who were out in big numbers again last night.
“There was about a hundred of them behind the goal and they didn't make it easy for the opposition keeper all game, while in the shootout they made it more difficult for the Reading players to go and take their kicks. But you use whatever you have to try and win right?
“There is a belief in this side that we can get late goals. We're strong in these periods and after getting the goal we went into the penalty shootout feeling relaxed. Maybe there was a feeling of it being a free hit because we’d pulled ourselves back into it, but I also had confidence that Watto (Aaron Watkins) would save a couple as well. Whatever it was, we had enough and the young lads behind the goal made a massive difference for us.”
On next month’s final, Bartley added: “We’ll be up against it no matter who makes it through. MK Dons would be nice for the glamour of the tie, but you’d have to believe we’d have more of a chance of winning against Bracknell.
“We have got a decent record in this competition.
“We had that recent run where we beat Slough and got through to the final and then this season, we’ve beaten Hungerford and Reading. It’s a competition we feel pretty good in.”
For manager Bartley it was a night to savour, however, his attentions have quickly switched back to Marlow’s play-off challenge and Saturday's game against bottom club Tooting and Mitcham United. His side are 10 points clear of sixth placed Chertsey with only six matches to play.
“That’s the priority for us right now,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure we make the play-offs now, starting with Saturday’s game. The boys can enjoy last night but tomorrow we’re back to work to make sure we’re ready to go against Tooting on Saturday.”