Marlow hit for six as Thames Valley Premier League campaign recommences

Football returned in the Thames Valley Premier League at the weekend after the enforced hiatus of lockdown, but for Marlow United, it wasn’t such a comfortable return.

The Flying Blues drew the short straw of an opening fixture as they visited Berks County, a side which boasted a 100% record from seven matches before the break.

Played at Binfield, Marlow fielded an unfamiliar starting XI and were immediately put on the back foot by their hosts.

The visitors defended manfully and were able to hold out for the best part of half an hour, only to be undone by a well converted penalty from Swift after Kieran Brady was adjudged by the referee to have brought down his opponent inside the area.

One became two within three minutes after ‘keeper Luke Gibbs failed to contain a stinging effort and Hobbs was able to tap in the rebound to extend County’s advantage before the break.

The second 45 began disastrously as Marlow conceded their third shortly after the blow of the whistle through Griffith.

Goal number four arrived in the 75th minute via Wylie’s long range effort, and the fifth came six minutes later from the spot once again.

The last goal of the game was arguably the pick of the bunch with Day scoring with aplomb to cap off a chastening 6-0 defeat for Marlow.

The Flying Blues sit in 12th place in the division and were due to play Reading City u23s on Wednesday.

Following a 2-2 draw with Burghfield on Monday, Berks County hold onto second spot.

Cookham Dean succumbed to a narrow defeat in their tie with Burghfield on Saturday.

At the Alfred Major Recreation Ground, Steve Melledew’s men continued their fantastic post-lockdown form with a 2-1 victory thanks to goals from Telford and Brown.

Cookham sit in 11th place and were due to play high-flying Newbury on Wednesday. Burghfield are 5th.

Maidenhead Town were humbled 5-1 on home turf by Reading City u23s on their long-awaited return to football.

Trailing by just the one goal at the break, the hosts managed to restore parity just after the hour mark with a coolly dispatched penalty kick.

However, any optimism was swiftly dissipated 10 minutes later when City won and converted a penalty of their own to make it 2-1.

The game, thereafter, was dictated by the vistors as they scored their third in the 76th minute, fourth in the 82nd, and conclusively secured all three points with a fifth goal in the game’s final minutes of normal time.

Maidenhead hold onto eighth place in the division ahead of Wednesday’s clash against Windlesham & Chobham.

Reading moved into 11th, before Monday’s 1-0 win against against Finchampstead lifted them one place higher.

Mortimer were happy to share the spoils with Westwood Wanderers in a 1-1 draw.

The hosts were able to get themselves off the mark with Carl Self’s free kick just outside the area, before Wanderers equalised just minutes later.

The sides were due to go head-to-head again on Wednesday for the reverse fixture, with Mortimer sitting in 6th and Wanderers in 7th before kick-off. WWraysbury Village enjoyed the most successful week back, first overcoming Richings Park 2-0 on Saturday before defeating Windlesham & Chobham 3-0 on Monday. The Stags climb into 3rd.