North Greenford Utd 1 v Marlow 1
21 Feb 2012

Tuesday 21st February 2012 - Kick Off 7.45pm

The Evo-Stik League 'Southern' Division One Central

The second of North Greenford United’s games against Marlow in the space of four days saw the two sides score a penalty apiece to share the points in what was overall a scrappy contest.  Incredibly this fixture had originally been scheduled for Saturday 1^st October, but a string of postponements caused by a combination of cup commitments and adverse weather conditions had led to a highly unusual scenario of back-to-back encounters.

 In stark contrast to Saturday’s contest at the Alfred Davis Memorial Ground, Marlow were the better of the two teams on the night, particularly in the first half.  Determined to produce an improved performance, the visitors pressurised their opponents from the outset and Greenford struggled to find any sort of shape or rhythm to their game.  It was only through some determined and at times desperate defending that the home side managed to prevent Marlow from scoring.

 Against the run of play, it was United who succeeded in breaking the deadlock on thirty-five minutes when referee Anthony Serrano adjudged that striker Ricky Pither had been pulled back just inside the Marlow box and immediately awarded a penalty.  Pither himself took the spot kick driving the ball low and hard into the corner to give Greenford a fortunate half-time lead.

 United raised their game in the second period with Saturday’s two goal hero Zak Joseph coming close to extending their lead on fifty-two minutes with a fine effort on the turn which narrowly missed the target.

 It looked as if Greenford were going to hold out for another crucial three points as the Marlow heads began to drop, but this changed dramatically in the seventy-second minute when referee Serrano awarded a second penalty in similar circumstances to the first, this time for a foul by United’s captain Nick Turner just inside the home team’s box.

 As Pither had done in the first half, Marlow striker Adam Harman made no mistake with the spot kick, and from this point on it was the visitors who looked the most likely to grab a late winner.

 Both sides though had chances to do so, the best of these for Greenford falling to Pither who came close to heading home from a tight angle, and for Marlow to their dangerous wide man Aaron Couch who, on the stroke of full-time, broke clear only to see his goal-bound strike brilliantly saved by the feet of United keeper Andy Caesar.

 In the end, North Greenford had to be thankful to earn a point from this disappointing performance, and will be aiming to do much better when they take on Fleet Town in another crucial bottom-of-table contest at Berkeley Fields on Saturday.

 NGU team:  Andy Caesar, Wayne Jackson, Sean Roberts, Nick Turner (James Shipperley 87), Jamie Diston, Liam Hind, Zak Joseph, Danny Tilbury (Alex Paine 45), Ricky Pither, Mark Nicholls, Jack Duffy