Advantage Chertsey but Blues in touch
Victory at Guernsey hands Town nine-point lead in title race
Mark Bartley admits the Isthmian League South Central leaders Chertsey Town are probably favourites to go on and take the title, however, he wants to ensure his side are ready and able to pounce if the table toppers do slip up.
The Blues moved two points closer to Chertsey following Saturday’s 1-0 home win over Badshot as the leaders were held at home by Northwood. However, Chertsey opened a nine-point lead over Bartley’s side with Wednesday’s win at Guernsey and there are only nine league matches left for the Blues to eat away at that lead.
The Blues were the better side throughout Saturday’s clash at Oak Tree Road, but they failed to breach the Badshot defence until Naheer-Omar Nawaf grabbed the winner in the 87th minute.
Marlow have also shown they can go on long winning runs this season and they’ll go some way towards reviving their title hopes if they can beat Binfield on Saturday and go away to Chertsey in mid-week and pick up another three points there.
“I think it’s definitely advantage them (Chertsey),” he said on Wednesday. “They’re top of the league; they’ve got the points on the board. We would need to be perfect and turn them over next Tuesday. That would apply a bit more pressure on them for their games. But if they were to drop points tonight and we won at the weekend, it would be an intriguing encounter next week. It’s not totally impossible. Yes, the games are running out but there’s still a lot of football to be played. If we could be perfect, and get that victory over them, they wouldn’t have too many other lives left.”
He added: “We’re focused on
winning the league, but if we do find ourselves in the play-offs, I feel we’re slightly better equipped for it than in previous years because of the goal threat we have. But we’re still focused on winning the games that we have, and we’ll see where that takes us but the other teams likely to be in there are good teams.
The Blues smashed Binfield 8-1 at home earlier in the season, but Bartley has warned his squad they’ll be in for a rude awakening if they underestimate their hosts this weekend.
“They’re much changed and if you look at their recent results, you’ll see they are a different side,” he said. “We’ve watched some footage of them, and I don’t think we’re going to be seeing another 8-1 but we go into that game feeling confident. If we execute
our game plan, we know it’s difficult for any team in the league to stop us. That’s what we’ll focus on. I’m not expecting another eight goals, but I am expecting another good performance from us.”
Bartley also paid tribute to midfielder Louis Rogers who played his 200th game for the Blues on Saturday. Presented with a commemorative trophy before kick-off by chairman Ian Benfell, Bartley added that Rogers had been an integral member of the squad since joining.
He said: “Would like to say a massive congratulations to Louis on reaching the double century for Marlow. Since arriving at the club, he has been an integral part of the squad. His reliability, level and consistency of performance make it easy to understand why he’s reached 200 games.”