Marlow claim convincing win over Chipstead as leaders Chertsey are held

Aaron Watkins kept a clean sheet against Chipstead on Saturday. Photo: Steven Galvin

--

Marlow 4, Chipstead 0

Marlow bounced back from Tuesday night's defeat to leaders Chertsey Town with a commanding 4-0 win over Chipstead at Oak Tree Road on Saturday, and - should they win their next two matches - the gap to the leaders will be down to just two points.

While manager Mark Bartley accepted his side were a little disjointed at times, they had too much for their visitors, with Toby Raggett, Rhys Harper, a Syed Zohair Irtiza-Ali own goal and Dave Tarpey wrapping up a comfortable home win.

And with Chertsey slipping up at home to South Park (Reigate) in a pulsating 4-4 draw, the gap between the Blues and the leaders is now down to eight points.

Still a sizeable advantage - and Chertsey remain favourites to lift the title come April - however, Bartley's side have the chance to put them under real pressure this week, if they can beat Guernsey at home on Tuesday evening and then go away to Chertsey on Saturday afternoon and pick up all three points.

On Tuesday last week, the Blues suffered a narrow - and ill-deserved 1-0 defeat to the leaders in a game which saw a catalogue of things go wrong for the home side. Ben Mulley and Brandon Curtis were both sent off, with the Blues left to play with 10 men from the 12th minute, and then nine men from the 51st. Still, they managed to hold out the leaders, and might have nicked a goal themselves, before Gianluca Botti grabbed an 86th minute winner to stretch Chertsey's lead at the top to 10 points.

This Saturday was all about bouncing back from their sixth defeat of the season, and they did so in confident fashion. In Curtis Chapple's 200th appearance for the club, the home side forged ahead in the 26th minute through Raggett's strike. The Blues then doubled their advantage just before half-time through man-of-the-match Harper, while the 184 fans inside Oak Tree Road were in a relaxed mood as they saw an own goal, and another strike from Tarpey. The former Maidenhead United striker has now scored 12 goals in his last nine matches.

Afterwards, Bartley posted: “Our sole aim was to bounce back after Tuesday with three points - nothing more, nothing less.

“Despite a pretty disjointed performance, that target was achieved with four goals and a clean sheet. Now we move onto Tuesday which is absolutely must win for us.”

Bartley also praised the contributions of Chapple after his milestone match against Chipstead.

“I would like to congratulate Curtis on reaching his 200-game milestone for the club. An absolute one hundred percenter who has been a huge part of the squad over recent years. Here's to many more appearances in the Marlow blue.”