Marlow on the march as Blues beat Lions to leapfrog struggling Flackwell

Flavio Gyawu-Kyem. Photo credit: Marlow FC

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London Lions 0, Marlow 4

Marlow and Flackwell Heath appear to be moving in different directions in the Southern League Central Division, with the Blues skipping above the Heathens for the first time this season thanks to Saturday’s 4-0 victory over the London Lions.

Marlow have been in much better form of late, securing three wins in their past five league matches, results that have lifted the Blues to 14th in the table, and above Flackwell who were beaten 2-1 at home by promotion chasers Barton Rovers at the weekend.

Having been relegated from the Southern League Premier Division last season, Bartley’s new-look side initially struggled to find their feet in the Central Division, while a series of heavy league defeats saw them drop perilously close to the division’s relegation zone.

However, with key and experienced players returning from injury - and underperforming players moved on in favour of older, more experienced heads in midfield, the Blues have played their way into a decent vein of form.

Having beaten Biggleswade Town and Welwyn Garden City at home - and crushed the London Lions away - Bartley’s side are inching their way back up the table.

They have a long way to go to catch the teams competing for promotion, but Bartley believes it can be done and has challenged his players to reproduce the form they’ve shown over the past few weeks over the full course of the season.

Having scored in last week’s 3-2 win over Welwyn, Flavio Gyawu-Kyem was the star of the show in North London. scoring twice in a confident away win. It’s only the second time this season Marlow have gone away from home in the league and tasted victory - and this was also only their fifth win all season.

Gyawu-Kyem fired the Blues in front after only two minutes, and a goal on the stroke of half-time from Naheer Nawaf gave the Blues a firmer grip on the contest.

A second from Gyawu-Kyem (50') put the visitors three goals to the good early in the second half and Luqman Kassim rounded off the scoring in the 81st minute, capping off the Blues biggest win of the season.

Marlow’s recent good form will be tested in Saturday’s home clash against Barton Rovers. Rovers are unbeaten in their last five matches - four of them victories.

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Flackwell Heath 1, Barton Rovers 2

Flackwell Heath suffered their eighth defeat in nine matches in all competitions on Saturday as Ayoub Igozouln was sent off in the Heathens’ 2-1 loss to Barton Robers at Wilks Park.

There were no real chances in an even but goalless first half, but the Heathens were given a huge headache early in the second half when Igozouln was sent off following a second bookable offence.

The 10-men then found themselves trailing when Albie Hall (63') curled home a free kick from the edge of the area after the home side conceded a soft foul.

Alfie Warman (82') then all but confirmed the points for the fifth placed visitors, with Lewis Patrick’s 93rd minute free kick coming too late to alter the outcome of the game.

The Heathens were unbeaten in the league ahead of their recent FA Cup defeat at Maldon & Tiptree, but they’ve since fallen into a poor spell of form.

A narrow defeat to leaders Biggleswade was compounded by losses to Welwyn Garden City, Hertford Town and Thame United. A 2-0 away win at AFC Dunstable proved to be something of a false dawn for the Heathens who have since lost tough back-to-back home matches against Leighton Town and Barton Rovers.

Flackwell will hope for - and expect - a more positive result away to London Lions this Saturday. The Lions were thumped 4-0 by Marlow on Saturday.