Marlow bandwagon rolls over Bracknell
Greenslade-Jones' men dig deep for ninth straight victory
The Marlow bandwagon marches on relentlessly, with the side closing out a narrow 35-31 away win over Bracknell 2nds to register their ninth straight victory over the season.
For only the second time this season, a slightly understrength Marlow side were truly tested by their hosts, who came within five points of victory, but Rory Greenslade-Jones’ side dug deep when they needed to, and the winning mentality they have this season just about got them over the line.
The result also moved them five points clear of second placed Chinnor 3rds - who weren’t in league action at the weekend - and the two sides are set to meet in a titanic, and potentially pivotal, game at Riverwoods on Saturday.
Should Marlow win that one, it may just give them the confidence and belief they need to go on and claim promotion from the Counties 1 Tribute Southern North.
While not at their best against a strong Bracknell side, this was a particularly satisfying win for Greenslade-Jones and members of his coaching staff who used to coach this Bracknell side and led them to promotion a few seasons ago.
Reflecting on their ninth straight win this season, he said: “We had lots of changes on Saturday, we had a couple of players away and a couple injured. We had to rejig the backline a bit. We also had Harry Price out injured in the centre through the concussion protocol, so we had to change things around there. With that in mind, I thought we coped with them well.
“The scoreline was a little bit flattering to them. We did leave 15 points on the T, we didn’t have the
best day from the kicking T, but ultimately, we were the better team and we left there with five points.
“There’s a history there as myself and Stuart Sylvester, the forwards coach, we coached them for four seasons, so we got them promoted five or six years ago. We know lots of people at the club, and we know their second team coach. There’s a rivalry there so it was good for us to come away with that result. The pitch is very heavy there after the rain we've had but we kicked well out of hand.
“It was tit-for-tat a bit, but then they broke away and scored two tries, so at one point we were 12 points down. It came against the run of play, a couple of missed tackles but we managed to score just before half-time and then
scored just after half-time to alleviate that pressure. Then second half we really took control, we scored a try from a driving lineout and managed to sure up our defence. It was a good game for the supporters and the result was a fair one in the end. We’re not shy of character and have been in adversity at times in games and have managed to get ourselves back in front. We had a tough game down at Swindon College Old Boys where they beat us up a bit. We’ve been up against it, but we’ve gained confidence from winning nine games on the bounce. If we hadn’t of won those games, we would have lost a couple of games, but because we've got that momentum and confidence we've come through. Winning breeds winning really, and we’ve sneaked a couple of tight games.”