HARDENED BLUES ARE NOW READY FOR BATTLE
MANAGER Mark Bartley hopes Marlow’s ability to deal with adversity and come back fighting will stand them in good stead heading into this afternoon’s play-off final with Leatherhead at Oak Tree Road.
The Blues withstood a fair few blows in Wednesday’s semi-final against Westfield as they were twice pegged back before claiming a 3-2 win with a thunderous strike from Brandon Curtis in extra-time.
At times it also felt like they weren’t getting the rub of the green from the officials, with two or three calls infuriating Bartley, but the team never allowed those moments to derail their focus.
In previous seasons they’d certainly have buckled, but the Blues have a mental toughness these days to go alongside their exciting attacking options.
At one stage it looked like Marlow would compete with Chertsey Town for the title, and although that goal got away from them in the final weeks of the season, Bartley and his players are determined not to let this second bite of the cherry pass them by.
Bartley’s men have the edge of playing at home and they’ll also be hoping they have a style that Leatherhead find difficult to deal with.
They won both of their encounters in the league this season to nil, but Bartley knows better than to read too much into those sorts of stats.
“We had quite a bit to deal with on Wednesday, but we managed to get ourselves in front in extra-time and then showed the mental toughness that was perhaps missing from our play earlier in the game,” he said.
“Leatherhead are also on a good run, and they’ve also come through a tough game in mid-week like ourselves so they’ll be feeling like they showed a lot of character as well.
“We’re going to need another big effort on Sunday, but I think we’ve got that in us. We have the belief that we can beat them, but we know that doesn’t mean anything if we don’t go out and execute our game plan and play well.”
Bartley has been at the Marlow helm for more than a decade now, and in that time has turned the side from perennial relegation battlers into promotion contenders. They’ve flirted with promotion to Step 3 for several seasons and were beaten by Hanworth Villa in last season’s playoff semi-final. However, it looks like Bartley finally has a team with the quality and character to get the job done.
“No one now thinks they’re going to come to us and roll us over,” added Bartley.
“It would mean a lot to get them up to Step 3. We want the chance to go and do something special.”