Marlow end miserable run with vital 2-1 win over Biggleswade Town

Shamar Moore. Photo credit: Marlow FC

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Marlow 2, Biggleswade Town 1

After a series of poor results in the league and cup, Marlow managed to lift themselves out of the Southern League Central Division relegation zone with a home win over Biggleswade Town on Saturday.

The Blues have been struggling down at the wrong end of the table following their demotion from the Premier Division last season and had conceded 23 goals in their previous nine league matches.

Defeats to Hitchin Town (4-1), Thame United (4-0) and Ware (4-0) – as well as a 4-0 loss in the county cup to Ascot United in mid-week  - had left Blues supporters thoroughly depressed about their hopes this season.

However, manager Mark Bartley had seen some encouraging signs in the sides 4-0 loss at Ware and believed he’d see a more encouraging display from his side at home to Biggleswade with players returning from injury.

Having moved to replace other players he didn’t feel were up to the levels required to play for Marlow in this league, the boss was optimistic of a better performance, and that faith in his players was repaid handsomely on Saturday.

Marlow got the better of their highflying opponents in the first half of this match at Oak Tree Road. They took the lead in the 24^th minute when Shamar Moore found space in the Biggleswade area and cut the ball back for last season’s top scorer Naheer Nawaf to sweep home.

Hopes of victory were further raised just after the half hour mark when Alfie Agar was brought down by the Biggleswade keeper and Moore calmly converted the spotkick to make it 2-0. Wilson came close to making it 3-0 before half-time when he headed over from Agar’s cross and Naheer was played through in first half-stoppage time but was thwarted in his attempt to take the ball around the keeper.

Biggleswade were much improved after the interval and Seb D’Aversa had to put his body on the line to prevent a certain goal in the 51^st minute. The visitors whipped a second attempt just wide of the mark a few minutes later as the Blues clung onto their two-goal advantage. But Marlow retained their threat as well on the counter, with Ntim seeing an effort well saved by the Biggleswade keeper and Kwesi sending another shot narrowly wide in the 55^th and 56^th minutes.

The visitors grabbed a goal back through Alfie David Bernard Powell (66') just after the hour mark, but with Agar in excellent form the hosts continued to carry the greater threat in the game. The match swung both ways in the closing stages and the hosts had to see out the final seconds with only 10 players after Charlie Samuel’s dismissal. But the Blues held on for a massive three points and a result that lifts them to 17^th place.

It’s also a win that should give the players the belief and encouragement they need to compete well against most teams at this level.

Afterwards, Bartley said: “I’m pleased for the boys. If we’re outside the four walls of the Marlow changing room it’s easy for people to make calls on us. But the management team have been fairly relaxed about it. Of course, we’re not happy about losing games but we knew that we had bodies to come back in, we knew we had a few boys that we wanted to try and get into the club.

“Like I said last week, the players returning would make a massive difference. That is a team at the top end of the league and, to be honest, 2-1 kind of flattered them so we’re very pleased for the boys and they deserve that reward.

“We’ve played the last few games and had some heavy defeats without a recognised number 9 and it’s hard to play without that especially in this league where teams are fairly direct. Today, Shamar (Moore) did that for us and you saw the difference. We’ve also got pace out wide with Naheer and Alfie so you can see the threat that we carry.”

The Blues are back in league action at Enfield on Saturday, the team just below them in the table.

“It’s an opportunity to get maybe a couple more players back on the pitch,” said Bartley. “And to work more with Louie and Harvey, the two boys who have come in this week. Shamar played with a heavy cold today and we’ll be looking to get Mitch back in as well. All of a sudden, we’re starting to look a lot better. We’ll prepare for this game. We know what we need to do and now we’ve got the personnel to do it.”