Northwood's 100% away record came to an end as another goal-shy performance allowed Marlow to secure all three points. After bowing meekly out of the FA Cup on Saturday, Mark Burgess made a couple of changes in attack with Niko Muir restored to the starting line-up at the expense of Oliver Sprague, while Aaron McLeish was promoted to start ahead of Garry Senior.
It was the home side who made the early running. Ben Gladwin had an early effort that sailed well over and then when Jake Knight was caught in possession, Michael Bartley had a stab at the ball but the goalkeeper recovered to block for a corner. After 11 minutes, Richard Witt headed down and wide from a corner but soon after this, the Woods made their first positive move with Jon-Jo Bates feeding Ryan Phillips on the overlap, whose cross forced a corner.
Bates then combined with Muir to find George Nicholas who opted to shoot rather than return the pass to the striker and the ball slid wide of the target. The Woods were passing the ball around in their usual style but without really getting anywhere, and Marlow then took the lead after 33 minutes. Jordan Chandler did well on the left and sidestepped Orlando Rodrigues to whip the ball across. Knight could only push at the ball and it ran loose where Witt beat the defenders to the ball to blast home from ten yards to inflict the first goal against Northwood on their travels this season.
The impressive Gladwin then skipped past a couple of challenges around the edge of the box but flicked his shot wide of the goal with just Knight to beat and Sam Whiting also shot over when well placed.
Northwood looked to make amends after the break and Bates was quick to set up Joakim Ehui who shot wide of the post. Knight was forced into a diving stop from Gladwin soon after and Marlow were still creating more chances until Dave Lawrence replaced Ehui after 59 minutes. It appeared to up the tempo around the box for the first time and the substitute soon linked with Bates to chip the ball into the danger-zone where Muir arrived but only managed to head straight into the hands of goalkeeper Simon Grant.
Lawrence then fed McLeish with a good ball but the striker turned away from goal and eventually saw his effort headed clear. It was after 67 minutes that the Blues picked up their first booking of the game yet by the end they had upped that tally to six as the yellows started flying in the face of some blatant time-wasting.
A jinking run from Rodrigues saw him cut in and beat two men only to flunk his shot which was weak and gratefully taken comfortably by Grant in goal. Next up was Bates who attacked from deep and then hit a fine shot which was only just wide of the post.
Grant and Adam Richards were booked in swift succession for delaying the restart, Gladwin for a foul and then substitute Spence, again for time-wasting as Marlow tried to cling on to their narrow advantage. It broke the Woods momentum, but after 86 minutes they had their best chance as Bates made ground into the box and pulled the ball across from Muir who stabbed his shot wide from six yards.
It had been all Northwood in the final twenty minutes but it was the home side that made the breakthrough again in the first minute of stoppage-time as Gladwin worked himself space again with some clever skill and then planted a shot across Knight and into the corner.
At 2-0 it was all over but the Woods kept coming and Lawrence forced Grant into a diving save from a well-struck free-kick and then, from the resulting corner, notable for it being taken by Brad Hewitt, Rodrigues climbed well but headed wide of the target.
It was another hard lesson learned for a Northwood side earning some plaudits for their style but it all counts for little unless then can become more potent in the final third and especially in front of goal. |