Northwood 1 Marlow 3
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Tuesday 10th October 2023
| NORTHWOOD | |||
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| 1 | Andrew McCorkell © | ||
| 2 | Teddy Stacey | ||
| 3 | Deago Dunbar Bonnie | ||
| 4 | Carl Stewart (83m) | ||
| 5 | George Milner-Smith  |
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| 6 | Romario Jonas | ||
| 7 | Osaretin Otote | ||
| 8 | Riccardo Alexander-Greenaway (83m) | ||
| 9 | Dan Williams |
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| 10 | Kofi Anokye-Boadi | ||
| 11 | Curtis Brown (69m) | ||
| Substitutes | |||
| 12 | Sam Jenkins (83m) | ||
| 14 | Harry McCorkell | ||
| 15 | Luke Tingey | ||
| 16 | Zeid Hannachi (69m) | ||
| 17 | Prince Mbengui (83m) | ||
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Home comforts were in short supply once again for Northwood as they suffered a third consecutive loss at The Skyline with Marlow taking the spoils back to Buckinghamshire. There were a couple of changes to the Woods starting line up with Riccardo Alexander-Greenaway and Osaretin Otote returning at the expense of Saturday’s debutants Prince Mbengui and Zeid Hannachi.
Marlow threatened from the off as goalkeeper Andrew McCorkell was forced into an early save to keep out a shot from Josh Boorn. And while Northwood were having their fair share of the ball in the early stages, they were struggling to make an impression in the final third with a Dan Williams ball across the face of goal the closest they came 
to testing the Blues’ rearguard.
The visitors maintained their attacking momentum with top scorer David Rogalski going close on a couple of occasions while McCorkell kept out a Tom Soares header from a corner. And there was more defending to do for Woods as Romario Jonas cut out a shot from Khalid Simmo before Boorn fired wide after the hosts failed to clear a long throw into the box.
Northwood were struggling to get a foothold in the midfield with the visitors continuing to ask questions as Simmo broke forward into the box before unleashing a shot which McCorkell shovelled behind for a corner which was met Rogalski as he headed over.
However, Woods’ resistance was broken as they conceded two goals in four minutes – Rogalski firing home on 35 minutes after some poor defending at a corner before the unmarked Boorn added a second after Northwood failed to cut out a cross from their left touchline.
Woods needed a quick response and they thought they had an opportunity as Otote’s cross into the Marlow box hit the arm of Malachy Talent-Areetey but the valid penalty appeals were waved away. And salt was almost added to the Northwood wound before the half-time break as the dangerous Simmo was played in by Boorn with McCorkell getting the faintest of touches to divert the shot wide of the far upright.
Following a quiet start to the second period, Northwood finally got a break as a misunderstanding between Marlow’s Alex Salmon and Aaron Watkins saw the former head the ball beyond the advancing goalkeeper allowing Williams to lash the ball into an unguarded net to reduce the arrears on 52 minutes.
The visitors made a couple of substitutions as they looked to freshen things up, but it was Northwood who had a wonderful opportunity to draw level as Williams flicked on a pass from Otote to send Curtis Brown clear with only Watkins to beat but the Marlow stopper stood up well and produced a smart save to keep his side in front.
Marlow were spurred back into action as they regained their attacking impetus with McCorkell keeping out attempts from Simmo and Soares while Rogalski went close to adding another.
Northwood made a change on 69 minutes as Brown made way for Hannachi. And the substitute was quickly into the action as he released Williams who was unable to keep his shot down as he failed to test Watkins.
Woods still had hope as they made a double substitution on 83 minutes as the fresh legs of Mbengui and Sam Jenkins replaced Greenaway-Alexander and Carl Stewart. But it wasn’t to be as Northwood failed to find the cutting edge with Marlow sealing the points with a third goal a minute from time as the unmarked Simmo headed home.
REPORT by Robin Piper
