Marlow forced to settle for a point as defensive errors prove costly once again

Naheer Nawaf. Photo: Theo Edwards

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Marlow 2, Leverstock Green 2

Marlow dropped points again at home to Leverstock Green last night (Tuesday) drawing 2-2, and afterwards manager Mark Bartley said he was ‘disappointed with the manner of the home side’s performance’.

The Blues had looked to be finding form in the Southern League Central Division after a difficult start to life back at step 4, however, after four straight wins, they’re now without a win from their last three and remain firmly entrenched in the lower half of the table.

Bartley would have expected his side to bounce back at Oak Tree Road against a Leverstock side who are without a win in any competition since August 25.

And yet they were forced to scrap and fight for a point after taking a 17th minute lead through Mitch Parker. Again, the impressive Flavio Gyawu-Kwen was involved, picking up the ball on the right and sending in a low cross that Parker slotted home from close range. However, Leverstock levelled matters through Callum Neal in the 25th minute and then stole in front through Jeffrey Sekyere’s finish in the 32nd minute.

It might have got worse for the Blues before the break, with the visitors firing wide from close range just a minute or so later, but they survived through to half-time and were able to regroup for the second half.

James Sharlott in the Marlow goal made a massive save in the 47th minute to keep the Blues within touching distance and it proved pivotal, as in the 54th minute, Parker danced his way into the area and managed to get the ball through to Naheer Nawaf who fired home from six yards.

Both sides pressed for a winner as the game became increasingly stretched in the closing stages, but Marlow, and their visitors, were forced to settle for a point.

Speaking after the final whistle, Bartley said: “I’m disappointed with the manner of the performance, and I’ve just said that to the boys in there.

“The pitch held up well in the conditions and, to their credit, Leverstock carry a threat. We knew that and prepared for it, but we didn’t apply ourselves well.

“We started well for the first 10 minutes and then we deviated from the plan. Over the course of the game, we created a lot of problems for ourselves. There were a lot of things that weren’t good enough. A point is a point, but we’re disappointed with that.

“It was quite an open game, but we defended poorly today. We gave away some poor goals. They are preventable. We should be conceding those goals today. Sometimes on a Tuesday night, they are notorious for throwing up random results. You must make sure you’re on the job.

“As good as we’ve been over the last five or six weeks, today we haven’t been and there were a catalogue of errors from us that we need to fix.”

He added: “In training on Thursday, the players are going to have to wrap up warm, because there’s going to be a lot of boring, repetitive shape stuff. But I don’t apologise for that. That’s what they’ve told me they need with that performance on the pitch and that’s what they’re going to get on Thursday.

“The only thing I can guarantee is that on Saturday we are going to defend better than that. We’ll always create chances and today we should have made a bit more of those openings, but we need to defend a hell of a lot better.”

Marlow visit 20th placed AFC Dunstable on Saturday needing a win just to get themselves back in touch with the sides above them in the table and back in with a shout of a play-off push.