Marlow hit stride with dominant 4-0 victory to secure back-to-back wins

Marlow FC may be starting to show the kind of consistency manager Mark Bartley has been craving all season, with the Blues securing back-to-back wins in the Southern League Central Division with Saturday’s 4-0 victory over Milton Keynes Irish.

The Blues won Saturday’s game in emphatic fashion, deservedly taking the lead on the stroke of half-time through Enrique Tiamuna’s near post finish and then building on it throughout the second to record their biggest win of the entire campaign.

Marlow have been a frustratingly inconsistent outfit at times this season and manager Bartley has been galled to see the side throw away advantageous positions by allowing old, bad habits to creep back into their play.

But there’s a sense they might now have turned a corner on that front. It’s too late to salvage anything in terms of a late surge for a play-off spot, but their performances this week - away  to Hadley last weekend and home to Milton Keynes Irish on Saturday - bode well for the final few weeks of the campaign - and possibly even next season as well should this squad stick around and continue building together.

Club captain Chris Ovenden had a hand in Marlow’s opener, hooking the ball in for Tiamuna to apply the neat finish at the near post in the dying embers of the first half. It was a goal their overall control had deserved. Yes, Milton Keynes had their moments, particularly early on, but Marlow had also hit the crossbar through Harvey Maudner’s ambitious effort from 40 yards and gone close on other occasions.

 Milton Keynes missed another glorious opportunity in the opening minutes of the second half when Smith lobbed over the bar when well placed, and it was the let off Marlow needed to go on and dominate this match.

In the 69th minute they doubled their lead when Shamar Moore did brilliantly down the right to work the opening for a cross before picking out Seb D’Aversa who coolly slotted home.

 Marco Borkovic was then denied a goal on his debut when the Irish keeper made a scrambling save to deny him at point-blank range in the 71st minute. But Maudner got the goal his performance deserved a few minutes later when he smashed home from considerably further out. Three-nil and the Blues were now cruising but there was time left for Borkovic to combine with another Marlow debutant, William Ramirez, who scored the fourth in the 86th minute.

A thoroughly satisfying week for the Blues therefore and Bartley will be hoping for a repeat of this performance in the final six matches of the season. The result lifts them to 15th - now just three points behind Flackwell Heath who were beaten 2-0 away by Leverstock Green.

A mid-table finish may also now not be beyond them, but their next test - away to fourth placed Biggleswade - may prove a little tougher.

After the game on Saturday, Bartley spoke to club media: “Yeah, I thought they did exactly what we asked of them. We had a good performance last week and worked hard in training this week. We spoke to the boys about the importance of being able to back that result up.

“Because all season we’ve had one good game, one bad game, one good game, one bad game. The challenge for us was to put two good performances together. They were fantastic.

“Really pleased, especially second half when I thought we were very good. Four goals, clean sheet, two wins on the bounce. I have to be pleased with that.

“It takes time. We’ve had a lot of boys come into the club this year, haven’t played for us for a long time. Some of them haven’t had a lot of games at step four. And unfortunately, there is just a process that you can’t speed up. You need a certain number of games at the level before you understand it.

“We’re now getting seven or eight boys who are starting to reach that level and are starting to understand the game. We’re seeing more consistent performances because of that. We knew they were good players, but it’s just taken them a while to get there.

 “We will try to improve the group if we can, and the rest of it will come from players getting to the level they need to be at.

“Now with six games left we’ve got to try and put a good run together and finish the season strongly.”