Marlow is On The Rise

......onlookers could have perceived it as a poor start to the ‘five year plan’. Marlow had paid their penance in the Tuesday training session and were ready to start afresh. This game was where the real competition started.

The whistle blew to mark the start of the league, the game for which 3 months of running through blood, sweat and tears had finally come and Marlow were not ready to let this one slip by. Both teams made the odd mistake as they settled into the game but the men were not fazed.

As the half played on, Marlow got their chances with their new signing, Paul Hayes, playing against the very club he had come from, causing havoc in the opposition D as usual. Tensions were rising as each attack came to no avail at both ends of the pitch; however, it all ended when Marlow played some sublime hockey, starting in the defensive 25 and passed it selflessly across the pitch until the ball ended up with Alex Land in the D, who is notorious for shooting at every given angle, but he surprised every player by selflessly laying it off to his brother, Chris Land, to pass it into the empty net.

Not 2 minutes had gone when the second came, with good decision making all over the pitch to help Chris bag his second in the game.

The second half started with spirits high, but were shot down quickly as Marlow was caught out by conceding a short corner which lead to a goal. Hawks were back in the game. More chances at both ends of the pitch lead to Marlow having their first corner of the game. From the Thursday night sessions, Charlie Olley confidently fired it into the bottom left hand corner. 3-1.

Emotions were flying high when Marlow conceded another short corner. Ross Bone with an incredible triple save seemed to put his body on the line for the cause. The final shot was saved off the line from Gary Goodman, displaying his cricket prowess; however, a very ambiguous decision from the umpire lead to it being a goal.

As the closing minutes came, Hawks’ attack came stronger and stronger. Despite some exceptional defending from the back 4, Marlow conceded another short corner which lead to a goal; however, as luck would have it, a Hawks attacker broke the line early, so a retake was in place which was well defended this time. The final whistle went to signify the end of our drought and the start of the season.

Report by Imre Gerrits