Blues rue the ‘fine margins’ in cup exit
Bartley’s men lose 100 per cent record in defeat to Harrow
Mark Bartley lamented the fine margins as Marlow FC were knocked out of the FA Cup despite putting in an excellent showing at Harrow Borough.
A goal from James Mansfield just three minutes from full-time not only knocked Marlow out of the competition, but also brought an end to their 100 per cent record in the league and cup this season.
This was also the first time this season that the Blues had conceded a goal.
The in-form Nnamdi Nwachuku had brought the visitors level in the 73rd minute, cancelling out James Ewington's 48th minute opener for Harrow.
Afterwards Bartley chose to freflect on the positives, of which there were many. He said: “We played really, really well for long spells and, the irony is, that was probably our second-best performance of the season.
“It just came down to fine margins. There was a couple of halfchances that they took and maybe we didn’t quite capitalise on ours. But I have zero complaints about what the players gave me because they were very good.
“It was always going to be a tough encounter because they’re a team placed higher than us, and they had a great result in the last round. They’re in good form aswell.
“But I think we matched them and that was all I could ask. The players went out, they executed the game plan well. It just didn’t happen for us on the day.
“We’ve come away with confidence because we’ve matched a side that have been on a highly impressive run in the division above.
“We had a great result Bracknell last week, and now we’ve rolled into this game in which
we’ve really been strong against a team that are going well.
“It didn’t happen for us on the day, but it definitely underlines our belief in what we can potentially achieve this season.”
Bartley and the Blues are back in cup action this weekend as they welcome FC Romania to the Alfred Davis Memorial Ground for the FA Trophy Second Qualifying Round.
The Wolves used to be compete in the same league as Marlow but at the end of the 2020-21 season, which was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were transferred to Division One Central of the Southern League.
“They've blown a bit hot and cold this year,” said Bartley.
“FC Romania have had a couple of good results, and a couple of bad ones, so we’re not really sure what we’re going to get from them at the weekend.
“Last year they were in our league and they weren’t the strongest. I'm not sure as to what our lineup will be but there will definitely be some rotation.”
Bartley added: “We now find ourselves with four games in 11 days so I need to manage my players through that period.
“I'm sure there will be conversations over the next day or so because there are games where our strongest squad need to play, and others where we can rotate.
“It's a case of making sure we use the right players on the right days. But, look, we try to win every single game and the squad is deep enough.
“We’re focused on beating FC Romania and then we travel over to Chipstead on the Tuesday.”