SPORT
ITALIA HELLENIC LEAGUE
DIVISION
ONE EAST
WOEFUL
MARLOW SNATCH POINT
A fortunate United scrambled a last minute goal to rescue a point at Prestwood coming back from a two goal deficit with 15 minutes remaining.
In what was probably their worst performance since promotion to the Hellenic league last season Marlow can count themselves lucky to escape from Sprinters Sports Centre with one point.
Prestwood will be disappointed having conceded those two late goals when looking to have the points in the bag against a weakened Marlow team who arrived with only one substitute owing to the none appearance of players and a communications mix up with the reserve team.
Certainly there was no sign of an upset as the away team began the game in commanding fashion with Heywood, Lanaway, Cuva and Buchanan all involved in a flowing move in the second minute.
Two minutes later and United almost took the lead, Middleton’s cross finding Davis only for the centre forwards header to hit the right hand post.
At this stage it was all Marlow, Matt Flint finding Lanaway on the left with the ball going for a corner only for the subsequent shot to be blocked.
Still it was the away team dictating the early play with a free kick awarded after Lanaway had been fouled again being cleared by an under pressure Prestwood defence.
Shortly after the home team almost snatched the lead with Gordon crossing from the right and with Pollard in the Marlow goal hesitating Mills attempted to fire home only for the keeper to redeem himself, gratefully falling on the shot.
That only delayed the first goal as with Gordon finding himself in space behind the Marlow defence he advanced and slotted the ball past Pollard to give Prestwood a fortuitous lead on 18 minutes.
Having taken the lead the home team began creating chances against a hesitant Marlow . The United team lacked any cohesion, the attack lacked looked decidedly lightweight and the midfield were unable to impose any control against eager opponents who sensed an upset was on the cards.
Battling performance’s from Heywood and Sciaraffa held the back four together but they could do nothing to prevent Prestwood extending their lead on 27 minutes, Lewis latching on to the ball on the right his cross being guided home by Hughes with Pollard strangely hesitant.
Marlow hit back with Ollie Flint having his shot saved by Slattery before Prestwood almost snatched what would have been a fatal third goal with Gordon missing the target from less than 4 yards.
Still United enjoyed the greater possession but they just did not look like scoring,
Matt Flint heading wide from a corner and Cuva missing twice when well placed.
The final action of the half summed up the previous 45 minutes with Filmore firing a free kick into Slattery’s arms.
Half time 0-2
The second period was if anything worse than the first 45 with neither side appearing capable of threatening the others goal.
For a side needing to pull back two goals United seemed strangely subdued and lacking in ideas.
They continued with a policy of hitting long balls out of defence only for Prestwood to easily cope with the efforts of Davis and Cuva.
It took until the 60th minute for Marlow to launch their first serious attack with Buchanan’s cross from the right being headed over by Lanaway.
Three minutes later a Sciaraffa free kick was laid off by Heywood only for Cuva to have his effort blocked.
Then on 70 minutes Filmore crossed for Heywood’s header to crash against the crossbar.
At this stage it seemed that United would never score and with Prestwood occasionally stretching United’s back four there was always the possibility of the home team snatching a third goal.
As it was it was Marlow who eventually scored the games third goal with Davis combining with Cuva in the Prestwood area, receiving a return pass and firing a shot over Slattery and into the net on 75 minutes.
Marlow at last sensed they could actually get something from the game and with Prestwood suddenly looking decidedly shaky they applied intense pressure on the home defence.
Despite Mat Flint and Filmore receiving cautions United piled on the pressure and they finally equalised in bazaar circumstances in the 89th minute.
Gaining a corner on the right Sciaraffa’s cross was held by Slattery only for the home keeper to carry the ball over the line under pressure from Davis. Despite rigorous protests from the Prestwood keeper, which resulted in a caution, the goal stood.
Sensing the opportunity to snatch all three points United attacked and when awarded a free kick on the edge of the area Sciaraffa fired the ball goalward only for Slattery to save his team with a brilliant one handed save, pushing the ball over the bar.
Prestwood had one last attack, Donohue outpacing a stretched Marlow defence only for Gordon to fire his cross into Pollard’s chest before the referee bought an end to the proceedings.
A dejected Marlow team trooped of knowing that a repeat performance next week will see a swift exit from the FA Vase at the hands of Lymington.
Manager Kevin Carvell had a rare day off and will be seething at his teams inept performance.
1) M Pollard 5 Hesitant on second goal
2) O Flint 6 Gave his all
3) M Sciaraffa 6 Kept battling
4) Matt Flint 5 struggled with pace of Prestwood’s forwards
5) T Heywood 7 Kept his team in the game
6) Ben Filmore 5 erratic performance
7) V Cuva 5 Missed two good chances
8) D Buchanan 5 Struggled to get into game
9) R Davis 5 Kept trying, Scored.
10) R Middleton 5 Subdued performance
11) A Lanaway 5 Final ball let him down
Sub S Gabb 5 Little time to make impact
MOM
Tristan
Heywood