Marlow
0
Slough Town
2
Stanley (32), Dodd (52)
League
Unknown
A third successive 20 defeat saw Marlow slump back to the bottom of the Vauxhall Opel League Premier Division on Saturday. Neighbours Slough Town became the latest championship contenders to boost their Vauxhall Conference ambitions at the hands of a depressed Marlow side.
That depression clearly showed in their play and Slough took advantage against a side that just a few weeks ago had looked as though they were finding the form to beat the drop. Sadly that form has now disappeared. The defence looked reasonably comfortably, although they were helped by some dreadful finishing by the visitors, but the rest of the side looked woefully disjointed.
The Blues would have eventually been thankful that Slough were not at their sharpest. Indeed after half an hour's play, a goalless draw seemed on the cards, Slough were playing all the football and creating the chances, but their forwards looked inept against a comfortable defence.
Marlow on the other hand didn't look like scoring throughout the 90 minutes and it was no surprise that their already stretched bubble burst after Slough had opened the scoring on 32 minutes. Gary Dodd brought the ball away from his own half despite the close attentions of a terrier like Kevin Stone. Stone's intimate challenge failed however to prevent Dodd from releasing Steve Thompson down the left and he was able to chip a delightful far post cross to the unmarked Neal Stanley who made no mistake.
It was sharp, clinical moves such as these that were always going to prove the downfall of Marlow. Their reactions were sluggish and any quick bursts from Slough left the Blues struggling for breath on every occasion.
Visiting goalkeeper Gary Lester, on loan from Wycombe Wanderers, may as well have watched the game from the stands. He didn't have a single shot on target to save in the whole game, and the nearest Marlow came was a speculative shot on the turn from Kevin Davies that dipped just over the bar on the stroke of half-time.
Seven minutes into the second period, the game was all over bar the shouting as Dodd made it 2-0. The busy midfielder was able to stroke the ball into an empty net after Thompson's effort had been blocked by Andy Harman but bounced kindly for Slough to put the game beyond reach.
In truth 2-0 wasn't a fair result. It should have been at least four by full time!
Stanley and Mark Adams both squandered good chances while Steve Ellis did well to block another Stanley effort after Dodd had put him clear on the right.
Lester moved from his line for just about the first time nine minutes from the end to prevent a dangerous Davies knock down from reaching Stone and was injured in the process.
He had time to recover however, as Marlow surrendered defeat and, with Croydon beating Wokingham, crashed painfully back down to the basement spot.
That depression clearly showed in their play and Slough took advantage against a side that just a few weeks ago had looked as though they were finding the form to beat the drop. Sadly that form has now disappeared. The defence looked reasonably comfortably, although they were helped by some dreadful finishing by the visitors, but the rest of the side looked woefully disjointed.
The Blues would have eventually been thankful that Slough were not at their sharpest. Indeed after half an hour's play, a goalless draw seemed on the cards, Slough were playing all the football and creating the chances, but their forwards looked inept against a comfortable defence.
Marlow on the other hand didn't look like scoring throughout the 90 minutes and it was no surprise that their already stretched bubble burst after Slough had opened the scoring on 32 minutes. Gary Dodd brought the ball away from his own half despite the close attentions of a terrier like Kevin Stone. Stone's intimate challenge failed however to prevent Dodd from releasing Steve Thompson down the left and he was able to chip a delightful far post cross to the unmarked Neal Stanley who made no mistake.
It was sharp, clinical moves such as these that were always going to prove the downfall of Marlow. Their reactions were sluggish and any quick bursts from Slough left the Blues struggling for breath on every occasion.
Visiting goalkeeper Gary Lester, on loan from Wycombe Wanderers, may as well have watched the game from the stands. He didn't have a single shot on target to save in the whole game, and the nearest Marlow came was a speculative shot on the turn from Kevin Davies that dipped just over the bar on the stroke of half-time.
Seven minutes into the second period, the game was all over bar the shouting as Dodd made it 2-0. The busy midfielder was able to stroke the ball into an empty net after Thompson's effort had been blocked by Andy Harman but bounced kindly for Slough to put the game beyond reach.
In truth 2-0 wasn't a fair result. It should have been at least four by full time!
Stanley and Mark Adams both squandered good chances while Steve Ellis did well to block another Stanley effort after Dodd had put him clear on the right.
Lester moved from his line for just about the first time nine minutes from the end to prevent a dangerous Davies knock down from reaching Stone and was injured in the process.
He had time to recover however, as Marlow surrendered defeat and, with Croydon beating Wokingham, crashed painfully back down to the basement spot.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Gary Lester
- 2 Ray Duffy
- 3 Gary Woodcraft
- 4 Tony Knight
- 5 Jeff Bateman
- 6 Trevor How
- 7 Mark Adams
- 8 Gary Dodd
- 9 Neal Stanley
- 10 Steve Thompson
- 11 Tony Dennis
Substitutes
- 12 John Watt
- 14 Brian Greenaway
Marlow Lineup
Ellis, Hubbick, Araguez, Toll, Putnam, Harman, Lay, West, Cordice, Stone, Davies. Subs: Dell, Russell.