HELLENIC LEAGUE
CHALLENGE CUP
1st Round
ONWARD
Fairford Town - 0 Marlow United - 2
Marlow cruised through to the second round of the league cup with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Fairford Town at a wind swept Cinder lane, a superb first half Doug Buchanan strike and a second half own goal being enough to see off a disappointing home team.
United began the game determined not to repeat the disastrous opening 15 minutes that saw them concede three goals at Witney a week earlier as they dominated the early play, a Dan Pedley cross on 5 minutes causing some concern in the home defence.
Two minutes later a Mark Doswell cross found captain Jason Bowler, his return into the area being met by Doug Buchanan who saw his effort saved.
At this stage Buchanan aided and abetted by the industrious Ben Filmore were bossing the midfield and apart from a corner on 11 minutes the United defence was rarely troubled.
A superb Bowler cross was met by Lewis Brown only for his header to fly wide as Marlow continued to look the more dangerous team.
Fairford almost caught out the Marlow back four on 17 minutes with Walker firing over from 15 yards following a cross.
Three minutes later Duncan Scrivens saw his shot from long range fly past Mark Ramsey’s left hand upright as the home team reminded United that they could not afford to relax.
Brown saw another header go wide and Doswell failed to reach a Bowler cross before Marlow deservedly took the lead on 38 minutes.
A Brown throw on from the right resulted in a Marlow corner which was taken by Buchanan. The kick was met by the head of Nick Flint who played the ball back across the area were it was met by the onrushing Buchanan who fired home an unstoppable angled shot past keeper Roncinsky.
Three minutes later after centre half Ian Green was replaced by Rob Crawford with a thigh injury Fairford broke up field with a Reynolds shot going wide.
HT 0-1
Assistant manager Gary Wiltshire replaced the injured Ben Filmore with Doswell dropping back into his more familiar midfield role as United began the half once more in determined fashion.
Playing into the strong wind they forced two early corners, Doswell seeing his header drift wide from the second of these.
A move involving Pedley, Buchanan and Brown saw the latter’s cross evade everyone on 52 minutes before United doubled their lead two minutes later.
A Bowler free kick from the left hand touchline was deflected past keeper Roncinsky by Walker and into his own net to virtually seal the game for the away team.
Keeper Ramsey caused some concern as he failed to hold on to a cross come shot on 60 minutes injuring himself in the scramble for the loose ball which was cleared.
Pedley ran on to a through ball three minutes later but was unable to reach the pass which was cleared.
Fairford threatened the away goal briefly when a cross from the right skidded across the area but in truth Ramsey did not have one save to make as the back four of United restricted any efforts to long range shots which invariably missed the target.
The home team forced two quick corners as the game drew to a close neither of which caused any concern before a break by United resulted in Doswell picking out Wiltshire the Marlow assistant manager firing over from 20 yards.
Fairford’s Boucher became the first and only booking of the game for clattering into Wiltshire as United saw out the final few minutes.
Marlow manager Kevin Carvell expressed satisfaction at the result saying after the game “That was just the performance we were looking for after last week. If we take that attitude into our league performances we will soon see the results improve”
FT 0-2
Team
M Ramsey, L Ovens, R Britnell, I Green, N Flint, B Fillmore, D Pedley, D Buchanan, L Brown, M Doswell, J Bowler.
Subs
R Crawford for I Green 41 minutes
G Wiltshire for B Fillmore 45 minutes
Scorers
D Buchanan 38 minutes
OG 54 minutes
M Ramsey 7
L Ovens 7
R Britnell 6
I Green 7
N Flint 8
B Filmore 7
D Buchanan 8
D Pedley 7
L Brown 7
M Doswell 7
J Bowler 7
MOM
D Buchanan