Marlow 3 Northwood 0

Saturday 26th November 2022

NORTHWOOD




1	Andrew McCorkell
2	Harry Gallagher
3	Brandon Kalu
4	Riccardo Alexander-Greenaway
5	Luke Tingey ©
6	James Gurteen
7	Ronan Hutchins (53m)
8	Juwon Akintunde (46m)
9	Josh Helmore
10	Sydney Ibie (81m)
11	Carl Stewart
Substitutes
12	Andy Lomas
14	Jake Tabor (46m)
15	Romario Jonas (81m)
16	Rahim Jude-Boyd (53m)
17	Joe Reade
	Marlow:Aaron Watkins, Curtis Chapple (Kouadio Ehui 63m), Elijah Oladunjoye, Chris Ovenden, Alex Salmon, Benjamin Mulley , Junaid Bell , Toby Raggett, Naheer-Omar Nawaf, Joshua Boorn, Aaron McLeish-White (Dawid Rogalski 66m)

Northwood’s miserable record at Marlow continued as the league leaders were comfortably beaten in the top of the table clash at the Alfred Davis Memorial Ground. There was one change to the Woods starting eleven as Josh Helmore replaced Jake Tabor in the left-sided attacking role, with the latter dropping to the bench.

The contest began at a brisk pace with Sydney Ibie latching onto Riccardo Alexander-Greenaway’s lofted pass and drawing a near post save from Blues goalkeeper Aaron Watkins. At the other end, Aaron McLeish-White barrelled his way through the Northwood rear guard before his shot was ushered away for a corner.

Woods responded with a slick move of their own which ended with Ibie laying off to Helmore, whose cleanly struck shot flew the wrong side of upright.

The hosts proceeded to try their luck with a couple of speculative attempts which comfortably cleared the target before the lively Naheer-Omar Nawaf found space down the Marlow right before squaring for McLeish-White, whose close-range shot was blocked by Luke Tingey.

The game continued to be played at a good tempo with play flowing freely from end to end and Ibie got round the back of the Marlow defence once again with his pullback finding Ronan Hutchins who was denied by a timely interception from Ben Mulley.

And Mulley was in the action again in the opposite half as his low drive was palmed away by Woods keeper Andrew McCorkell before the hosts threatened again as McLeish-White broke through the middle before feeding Nawaf who dragged his shot wide of the far upright.

Northwood reminded Marlow of their attacking threat as Alexander-Greenaway saw his close-range shot cleared by Mulley following a Hutchins corner before the visitors forced a freekick in a dangerous position with Ibie seeing 25-yard attempt fly narrowly over the bar.

Woods continued to press, and they went close to opening the scoring as a goalmouth melee saw Hutchins’ shot scrambled away. But having nearly broken the deadlock, Northwood were dealt a sucker-punch as they carelessly gave away possession in the middle of the park allowing Nawaf to break away before crossing for McLeish-White to apply a simple finish to give Marlow the lead on 44 minutes.

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PHOTOS by James Brown

Woods made a change at the break with substitute Tabor replacing Juwon Akintunde in the centre forward role while Ibie and Helmore swapped flanks. And the second half began at a lively pace as the unmarked McLeish-White spurned a good opportunity for the Blues while Carl Stewart saw his shot from the edge of the box deflect for a corner after being teed up by Ibie.

Northwood continued to search for an equaliser when Tabor made good progress into the Marlow box, but there was no red shirt to apply the finish as the ball flew across the face of goal.

Woods made their second change just before the hour as Hutchins made way for Rahim Jude-Boyd, Helmore moving into a more central position with the substitute occupying the right-sided attacking berth. And Jude-Boyd was quickly involved when he had a good shout for a penalty turned down after he appeared to be impeded as he looked to latch onto a Helmore flick-on.

Marlow made a couple of changes themselves and the contest became an increasingly scrappy and stop/start affair. Woods for their part appeared to grow increasingly anxious and adopted a more direct approach which was comfortably dealt with by the experienced Marlow backline.

Northwood continued to struggle to create any meaningful openings, while McCorkell was alert to the threat as Toby Raggett advanced into the box before Nawaf had a shot deflected wide.

Woods played their last card as substitute Romario Jonas was thrown into an unfamiliar attacking role with Helmore making way with four minutes remaining. But any hopes Northwood had of rescuing something from the game were immediately dashed as Raggett nipped in between McCorkell and his defenders to head home Josh Boorne’s corner.

Northwood finally threatened as Jude-Boyd broke into the Marlow box, but his shot was comfortably gathered by Watkins. And Marlow put the seal on a disappointing afternoon for Woods with a third goal in added time as Raggett converted once again to reduce the gap at the top of the table to four points.

REPORT by Robin Piper