Bartley: Marlow 'a hell of a lot better' despite heavy defeat at Ware

Credit: TME Sports Photography

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The one-sided scoreline might not suggest so, but Marlow manager Mark Bartley felt his Blues side were a ‘hell of a lot better’ in Saturday’s 4-0 defeat to fourth placed Ware in the Southern League Central Division.

Having been demoted from the Premier Division last season, Marlow were expected to compete alongside the likes of Ware at the top end of the table, however, they’ve had a few teething issues on their return to step 4, with several of their summer signings failing to hit the ground running.

Marlow gave a decent account of themselves in the first half at Ware, but the Blues fell behind in the 29th minute when Reece Devante Beckles-Richards found the back of the net.

Again, they looked a threat in the early stages of the second half, but hopes of a comeback were knocked back when Devante Beckles-Richards scored again in the 59th minute and then killed off entirely when Theophilus Asomah Ofori scored in the 65th minute and Samuel Kifwasima-Mayuma made it 4-0 in the 70th minute.

Bartley admitted afterwards his side looked vulnerable during that 15-minute spell when the game got away from them.

A few weeks ago, Bartley identified a lack of quality and experience within his midfield, and he’s been looking to replace certain individuals over the past few weeks.

However, after a couple of improved displays at home to Hadley and away to Northwood, they’ve found themselves very much second best in recent defeats to Hitchin Town (4-1) and Thame United (4-0), while Saturday’s display at Ware suggests they’ve still got plenty of work to do if they’re to improve on their current form.

Saturday’s defeat leaves them third from bottom in the table, with only six points from nine matches so far, heading into Saturday’s tricky looking home game with Biggleswade Town at Oak Tree Road.

Speaking to club media after the final whistle, Bartley said there were some encouraging performances from his side, despite the heavy defeat.

“Today for long spells, it was a hell of a lot better than it has been,” he said.

“I thought we actually played well for the first half. And I thought we started the second half pretty well as well.

“I think what’s happened is that we’ve shown our vulnerabilities. There was a 15-minute period where you could see the vulnerabilities in the team. And unfortunately, we’ve not had a chance to do anything about that yet in terms of personnel. We just looked a bit naive so.

“If we’re bad, I’ll say we’re bad, but I felt for long spells today we were ok. In those difficult spells it just looked like we lacked a bit of leadership.

“I think we’ve got several players to come back in and we’ve made a couple of signings this week as well. They weren’t done in time for this weekend’s game, but I would imagine that by next weekend we’ll have six, maybe seven players to come into the squad which makes a big difference for us.

“I think that, added to what we saw in the first half, will make a huge difference. I feel that will get us on the right track. We’ve had a couple of bad results and bad performances, and I think today was a bad result but the performance from several players was good.”

Marlow are back in Berks & Bucks Senior Cup action at Ascot United tomorrow evening (October 14) - with the Blues hoping to reach the third round of the competition and a home tie with Hungerford Town. However, Bartley admitted his focus is more on Saturday’s encounter with Biggleswade Town at home, where he hopes to have a few more key players to call upon.

“We’ll see what we do right, because we have a number of players who’ve played a lot of games who we can’t afford to get injured,” said Bartley.

“We’ve got players coming back from injuries, that’s one thing, and players who have played a lot of football so, naturally, there will have to be some changes. With our centre back pairing I can’t afford to be without them and a couple of other areas are the same.

“There will be changes, but every game of football is an opportunity to go and win a game and put in a performance. We’ll get Tuesday out of the way because my big focus is next weekend and getting the right people back on the pitch to deliver a better performance (against Biggleswade Town).”