With manager Mark Burgess unavailable along with brother James and assistant manager Simon Huggett, it needed a few of the experienced players to raise their game for this home match against Marlow, but too many joined the missing list and the side was overrun. Steve Brown was also completing his suspension so the centre of defence was exposed with Alan Bidi-Lecadouq, coming in for his debut alongside Woods youth teamer Giles Townsend, who was starting only his second game for the first-team. Stand-in manager James Duncan was also hit by the absence of the injured Dave Lawrence with the side down to the bare bones.

But Marlow were in no mood for excuses and played some good football that had the novice defence stretched throughout the first half. It took just five minutes for Jon Bennett to get in front of his marker to sweep home a James Rusby cross and although the Woods managed to hold out under pressure for a bit longer, a second goal followed on 25 minutes. This time it was Rusby who hit the target as his twenty-yard free-kick crept through a ruck of players and inside the far post with goalkeeper Berkley Laurencin slow to react.

Northwood created their first real attack a few minutes after this as Niko Muir battled to win a tackle and then strode through on goal. He was blocked but he won the ball back again and went for goal only for goalkeeper Simon Grant to spread himself well and deny him. The ball ran loose but Karl Oliyide also ran out of space as he tried to get a shot on goal. The Blues weren’t finished, though, and after 33 minutes Rusby delivered another free-kick and Bennett had the freedom of the penalty-box to pick his spot and volley home.

Devontae Romeo enjoyed a long run at goal but shot over the top but on 41 minutes Bennett completed a hat-trick when showing great strength to hold off the attentions of Duncan to get a shot in and although Laurencin made a reflex save, Bennett was onto the loose ball first and fired home. Four goals down at the break, it took Marlow all of three minutes to add a fifth, and it was a fourth goal for Bennett who was still allowed to roam unmarked, this time sweeping in a centre from Marcus Mealing.

This time it stung the lacklustre Woods into some form of action. After 58 minutes Muir ran through onto a good ball and poked it home past the oncoming Grant to reduce the arrears. Just three minutes later it was the turn of Oliyide to show a clean pair of heels as he scored in similar fashion with his first in four weeks.

With Jerome Federico starting to get more of the ball, and the attacks continuing, for a short period, it seemed as if there might be more to come. After Federico was fouled, Oliver Sprague saw his free-kick saved down low by Grant. Then another run from Federico saw him cut the ball back but there was no-one waiting to fire home.

Time was beginning to run out, but after 74 minutes Oliyide broke through again but this time he was unable to get his shot away and when he did it was blocked. He retrieved the loose ball and found George Nicholas on the edge of the box but his shot was then deflected wide for a corner. Two minutes later a scramble in the box saw the ball fall to Muir but his shot flashed inches wide of the post. The comeback was over.

On 81 minutes, Bennett turned provider with a run and cross from the left finding Mealing who knocked in a sixth goal. And the embarrassment was complete two minutes later when substitute Carl Davies hammered in off the crossbar with his very first touch having replaced the four-goal Bennett. Federico continued to provide an outlet on the right through to the end and he did have a late shot saved by Grant but it was too little, too late to have any effect on this sorry performance.