Tough season rolls on for Marlow as Flackwell Heath rue second half collapse

A loss of concentration at the start of the second half was enough to put Marlow on course for another league defeat on Saturday, their 20th of a miserably underwhelming season.

Expectations were reasonably high for the Blues coming into the season - despite their demotion from step 3 back in April.  But this much-changed side, that’s been tinkered with and changed throughout the campaign has struggled for consistency.

Manager Mark Bartley hopes that will come with age and experience, and there have been signs this young side could still spark into life. It might yet happen this season, but concentration and consistency are failing them time and time again.

There will have been aspects of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Leverstock Green that Bartley would have been happy with. They held their opponents at the interval and had some chances to take the lead. But a slow start to the second was punished, first by Jeffrey Sekyere in the 49th minute and then by Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica in the 52nd.

The Blues showed some character to get back into the game with five minutes to play through Seb D’Aversa and the hosts made a late clearance off the line to preserve all three points, but again the visitor’s fightback was too little and too late.

Marlow have lost 20 of their 34 matches this season. They’ve won 12 and drawn two but that sort of inconsistency won’t see you challenge the best teams in this division. They sit 16th, 11 points above the drop zone with eight matches to play. That should be enough of a buffer, but the team that’s turned out week in and week out have fallen a long way short of expectations.

This Saturday, they’ll look to avoid a third straight away defeat at 10th placed Hadley.

The expectation is they’ll likely lose, but there’s still time for Marlow to generate some sustained positivity and momentum which maybe they can carry through until next season - if they manage to, or even want to, keep the core of this squad together.

Another side punching well below their weight this season is Flackwell Heath, who have managed just six points more than Marlow this season.

Last season, they reached the play-off final - where they were well beaten by Berkhamsted and missed the opportunity to try their hand at step 3.

That blow was compounded by the loss of key players - such as striker Wiktor Makowski, now ripping it up with 19 goals for Slough Town in the National League South this season. Experienced heads like Mark Nisbet have also departed and their presence has been missed.

Their own topsy-turvy season has brought them 12 wins, 13 defeats and eight draws, so supporters have never really been sure what they’re going to get from their team most matches.

  On Saturday, they’ll be kicking themselves they weren’t able to build on a narrow 1-0 win over Milton Keynes Irish in mid-week.

Two goals to the good in the early stages of the second half thanks to Callum Mapley (15') and Lindell Stewart (54'), Chris Ayres’ side contrived to drop two points.

The visitors grabbed a goal back through Lenny Asamoah in the 72nd minute before Jordan Edwards headed home their leveller from a corner seven minutes later.

It was another kick in the teeth, but they’ll get that chance to put it right later tonight (Tuesday) when they visit 20th placed Northwood at the Skyline Roofing Stadium (kick-off 7.45pm). The Heathens are 13th in the table and as far from the play-off spots as they are the relegation zone.