Northwood’s five match unbeaten run came to an abrupt end when they allowed Marlow to come back from a goal down and win this contest convincingly after it should have all over in the first-half. With Danny Dyer ruled out with injury, the Woods experimented by playing Romaine Walker in the right-back berth and bringing in Jonathan Constant in the only change from the side that had won so impressively against St Neots in their previous outing.

The Woods started well, with Wayne O’Sullivan causing the home side plenty of problems down the flanks, setting up chances for Oliver Hawkins and Garry Senior, which were saved by goalkeeper Charlie Fanner, and seeing his own curling cross tipped over by the keeper. The pressure continued and Hawkins rose to head another O’Sullivan cross goalwards but Fanner pushed the ball over the top and from the resulting corner Constant knocked in a deep cross and Hawkins headed wide of the target.

After 27 minutes O’Sullivan forced Fanner into another good save with a curling free-kick which almost crept in just under the crossbar. Marlow were simply not in the game at this stage but notched their first effort on goal a few minutes later as former Woods defender Zac Gill tried his luck from distance and Thomas had to push the ball over the bar to be sure.

Finally, Northwood took the lead after 33 minutes as a simple ball down the middle found Senior in space and coolly chipped the oncoming keeper to notch his third goal in two games. Just two minutes later some more good work presented Senior with another chance but this time he hit his shot straight at Fanner.

Another O’Sullivan cross eluded Hawkins a minute later and then O’Sullivan had a shot of his own saved by Fanner as the Woods continued to threaten yet, despite their complete dominance, Northwood lost their lead before the break. It was with virtually the final kick of the half that saw Jermaine Roche cut in from the left, skip past Liam Fowler and hit a shot which went in off the far post.

The Blues must have been really buoyed by that goal against the run of play, and they came out for the second period full of running. Just three minutes in, Roche was given too much space and he played a good ball inside to Ashleigh James. Thomas made a good save from his strike but the ball ran loose to Sean Fraser who blasted home. Things went from bad to worse for the Woods on 56 minutes as Thomas made a hash of a clearance and Gavin James was quick to set up Roche to knock in his second of the game and Marlow were suddenly two goals in front.

The Woods rallied, but substitutes Aaron Lansiquot and Jack Hutchinson both failed to hit the target. However they pulled a goal back after 72 minutes as Walker, now in a more familiar forward position, rolled off the shoulder of a defender to slip into the box and although Fanner saved his effort, he managed to knock in the loose ball at the second attempt.

Sadly, any chance of a full recovery ended just five minutes later when some poor defending allowed Jon Case to get on the end of a square ball which should have been cleared and the Blues had restored their two-goal cushion.  Thomas made a good save to push over a strike from Gavin James while Walker had the best of the Northwood chances at the other end but found Fanner still in solid form between the sticks as Marlow held on to the victory.

Report by ALAN EVANS

Photos to follow...

Photos by James Brown