Marlow fight back for a point after letting down their guard
Lowly Guernsey stun Blues at Oak Tree Road but McLeish-White leveller gets hosts off the hook
Marlow 1, Guernsey 1
Marlow should comfortably have won Saturday's game against Guernsey,, but they let their guard down shortly after half-time – allowing Samuel Murray to volley home – and they then struggled to get back on level terms.
The hosts had pretty much all the possession and territory throughout the 90 minutes, but it took them until five minutes before the end of the game to find the net through the ever-willing Aaron McLeish-White.
The Blues could have gone on and nicked all three points in a frantic finale, however, Guernsey held on determinedly for a share of the spoils, and they just about deserved to take a point back with them on their plane to the Channel Islands.
The result sees Marlow drop to fifth in the Isthmian League South Central Division table – just a point above sixth placed Basingstoke and a point below second placed Chertsey Town – and reflecting on the game this evening, Marlow boss Mark Bartley will feel that this was very much two points that got away for his side.
The Blues began the game brightly in unseasonably warm late Autumn conditions, dominating possession and the early stages of the game. Chris Ovenden was presented with a trophy before kick-off after making 350 appearances for the club and the early signs were good that he’d captain the side to another three points.
Louis Rogers, who was later substituted after sustaining a nasty-looking cut above his eye, came close with a strike that was deflected behind for a corner in the sixth minute, while Junaid Bell might have done better with a shot after the ball ran kindly for him in the area a couple of minutes later.
Bartley complained of a lack of
quality in possession in the side's 1-0 defeat at Southall the previous weekend and those issues remained as Guernsey sat back and comfortably soaked up Marlow’s pressure for much of the half. Curtis Chappel saw his low shot well saved by Guernsey keeper Josh Addison in the 23rd minute while Naheer-Omar Nawaf was incredibly unfortunate to see his low shot strike the base of the post just before the halfhour mark.
Addison might well have got a crucial touch to the effort to turn it onto the woodwork. At this stage it looked like a matter of when, not if, the Blues would break down their visitors. But Addison continued to repel them, pulling off a wonderful save in the 32nd
minute before Rogers headed over from the resulting corner.
With the visitors posing very little attacking threat, it looked like a question of whether Marlow would be able to step up the tempo in the second half and take a firmer control of the game.
But instead, they were sucker punched by a goal in the 47th minute. On a rare foray downfield, the visitors were able to work in a teasing cross from the left and Murray lost his marker to turn the ball beyond Aaron Watkins on the volley.
While it was hardly panic stations for the hosts, given their overall control of the game, the goal did prompt Bartley into a double substitution on the hour mark, Toby Raggett and Dawid
Rogalski replacing Chappel and the injured Rogers. The Blues had been prompting and probing, swinging in several dangerous crosses but Guernsey dealt with them all reasonably effectively.
The changes had an instant impact and Marlow immediately looked more dangerous. Rogalski should have scored a couple of minutes after coming on when he shot straight at Addison after being picked out down the right by Nawaf.
McLeish-White then blazed over when he should have done much better in the 69th minute.
It was all looking a bit desperate when Raggett slashed high and wide from the edge of the area with around 10 minutes to go, but – credit to them – the home side didn't lose their composure completely.
Ben Mulley picked out Nawaf with an excellent through ball down the right and the wide front man beat his man well before arrowing a shot narrowly wide.
The goal their play deserved arrived with four minutes to play, Nawaf again doing brilliantly down the right to beat his man and put in a low cross from McLeish-White crashed the ball home via the underside of the crossbar.
The leveller brought a sense of relief but also an eagerness to press on for all three points, and Marlow very nearly snatched them in the 90th minute when Addison saved brilliantly from McLeish-White.
While at the other end Matt Loaring kept Watkins honest with a low shot that was saved.
Marlow beat this team 6-0 at home last season, and if they’d been more ruthless and clinical it could have been something similar today.
This was a game – and points – that got away from them.