For the second time in three weeks, Marlow’s first teams both secured valuable wins in the England Hockey West Conference at the weekend. As a result, the men extended their unbeaten run to five games and the women have lost just once in the last six.

First up on Saturday were the Women, who hosted a tough Cheltenham side which was level on points with the Reds at the start of the day. Conditions were appalling, with driving rain from start to finish, and Cheltenham started brightly, forcing Marlow goalkeeper Alys Ramm into an early save in the opening minutes.

Marlow wrestled back control, and opened the scoring after an accurate pass from Eva Barnett found Kerri Smith in the circle who swept the ball into the goal. Some skilful attacking play from Lena Sykora then earned Marlow an attacking penalty corner which was saved.

Cheltenham won their own attacking corner moments into the second quarter, from which a straight strike found its mark in the bottom left corner to level the scores.

The period up to half time was evenly balanced, with strong defending from Poppy Godfrey and Kiera Allen neutralising attacking threats, and Beth James proving effective in her distribution with accurate aerials finding their mark, leaving the score 1-1 at the break.

Marlow started the second half On the front foot, Maddy Peacock’s skillful hands earning her the title of player of the match, and it was somewhat against the run of play when Cheltenham took the lead after an unfortunate touch from a Marlow stick diverted the ball between Ramm’s legs. Marlow continued to pressurise the Cheltenham goal and Lena Sykora remained calm at a break down of a penalty corner to lift the ball over the keeper to bring the scores back level.

Marlow’s fitness told in the final quarter. Eva Barnett’s deflection at a penalty corner put the home side ahead in the 56th minute and Marlow kept calm to see out the remaining minutes to earn a vital 3 points in a very tight league. They remain in sixth place, but have restored their valuable cushion over the sides beneath them

Conditions could not have been more different for the Men’s match on Sunday, with bright sunshine greeting the visitors from the University of Bristol. A remarkable game saw Marlow dominate possession, circle entries and chances through the first three quarters, at which point the score remained a scarcely believable 0-0.

Bristol opened the scoring with seven minutes left in the match, and to describe the goal as against the run of play is something of an understatement. The students broke down the right side in a rare foray into Marlow’s half and after a rebound in the circle, the ball was played the ball across the face of goal for Joseph Jenkinson to tap in.

Headlines describing “smash and grab” wins must fleetingly have entered the visitors’ heads, but the joy was short-lived as Marlow belatedly found their scoring touch. Olly Deasy marauded from centre-back to equalise with a deft touch from a reverse stick cross in the 66th minute. Tom McKinlay won the ball from Bristol’s restart, and his ball across goal was deflected in by a despairing defender to put the Swans 2-1 up.

Two Bristol green cards and two goals in the last three minutes swiped the visitors’ legs from underneath them, Callum White firing a penalty corner into the bottom left corner and Jayden Zamler scorching home a penalty stroke off the underside of the crossbar to stamp Marlow’s three points onto the league table.

Marlow remain fourth, but are now just a point off second place, making next week’s trip to 3rd-placed Bath Buccaneers a chance to leapfrog them and seriously threaten the top of the table.

Elsewhere, the men’s second team picked up a valuable three points against Oxford Hawks 3s, while the women’s 2s played out a frustrating 1-1 draw against Sonning 1s. The men’s 3s maintained their table-topping position with a 2-1 win in the local derby against Wycombe 1s, the goalscorers being Charlie Rhymer, with a penalty corner deflection and James Ashburner, his ninth goal of the season.

Olly Deasy, scorer of Marlow’s opening score on Sunday

Image courtesy of Ian Foster @IFSportsImages