Marlow ring the changes and roar back with victory over London Lions

Flavio Gyawu-Kyem. Credit: Marlow FC

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After successive home defeats, Marlow manager Mark Bartley rang the changes for Saturday’s impressive 3-0 home win over London Lions.

The Blues needed a victory after suffering from what Bartley believes is a bit of ‘mental fatigue’ in the side’s home defeats to Leighton Town and Ware.

In general, it’s been an underwhelming season for Bartley’s new look side, with the squad having undergone a major rebuild following last season’s demotion from step 3.

The hope was the squad would find their level again in the Southern League Central Division - having been promoted via the play-offs at this level just two seasons ago. Instead, they’ve struggled to mould a competitive team, with new players struggling to reach the levels expected from the management team. More departures across the course of the season have further destabilised the team and they’ve spent most of the campaign idling along in the bottom half of the table.

There have been promising spells, but they’ve tended not to last too long with inconsistencies creeping back into their play.

On Saturday they were boosted by the returning Josh Masters - who made his 100th appearance for the club - and Toby Raggett, who offered a bit of guile and experience in offence.

Raggett was in the right place at the right time to tap home the Blues opener in the 18th minute. Empson did well to win the ball and feed Shamar Moore on the near side and his cross was met by Raggett at the back post for a tap in.

Their second goal came shortly after the half hour mark and it was some hit by Chris Lutonadio. Again, the build-up play was impressive with Flavio Gyawu-Kyem, Moore and Raggett combining to tee up Lutonadio for a cracking strike that arrowed into the top corner.

The game was then effectively settled when Gyawu-Kyem met Raggett’s cross and sent a smashing volley into the roof of the net in the 51st minute. The Blues then held the Lions out to register only their fourth clean sheet of the season.

Reflecting on the game, Bartley said: “We were good from the offset. That was the message today, to try and be a bit more positive.

“To try and get ourselves on the front foot a bit more and I think we did that. We made a few changes and the boys who came in showed the right hunger and desire that we’ve been asking for, and I’ve been really pleased with the boys overall.

“Some good goals as well. Chrissy’s (Lutonadio) finish a great goal at the end of a good team move, so I was pleased with that. Good to see Toby (Raggett) back on the pitch.

“When he’s playing well, he’s difficult to deal with, a goal and an assist for him. Three different goalscorers, three different types of goals. We probably should have scored three or four more but most importantly, it’s three points and a good performance and a clean sheet as well.

“It’s not that people have been playing badly, but maybe there was just a bit of mental fatigue in the team. We brought some players in who’ve played fewer minutes, and they had that hunger and desire to get on the pitch. It helped the overall group. Everyone played their part and we just need to pick it up and make sure we continue like that on Tuesday.

“It’s taken Josh a while to get there (100 appearances). He’s had some work commitments and then was playing at Holyport to get back up to speed, but we saw today what Josh brings. Good quality, consistency of execution, good decision making, it really helped us overall.

Marlow remain 16th, now just a point behind London Lions, ahead of tomorrow night’s trip to 12th placed Welwyn Garden City. It’s the first of three straight away games for the Blues with Bartley’s side travelling to Leverstock Green on Saturday. They have just 10 league games remaining.