Northwood suffered a crushing blow on Tuesday night as they crashed to their heaviest home defeat of the Century, only surpassed by the 0-7 loss to Windsor & Eton way back in January 1999. You also have to go back to an away game at Heybridge Swifts in April 2005 to find such a poor result when the Woods lost at Scraley Road by a similar 6-1 scoreline.

With Scott Orphanou joining the ranks of the injured players after having broken his ankle at Daventry on Saturday, Mark Barnham paired Aaron Cato up front with Leon Osei while John Sonuga returned to bolster the defence, having sat out the last couple of games and Ryan Tackley was available once again. Jamie Lindsay, Danny Power and Kyle Matthews remain on the injured list, while Sam Sharples was suspended.

With Marlow boasting a 100% away record this season and Northwood having won all their three previous home matches, something had to give, but no-one expected such an emphatic result. There was a competitive start to the game with John Christian having a shot deflected just wide after seven minutes while the Blues’ Jermaine Roche also struck with a slightly deflected shot that Mitch Swain dived across to save comfortably.

But it was the visitors that were edging things, creating the more clear-cut chances and a loose ball presented Leigh Mason with a great opportunity but as he seemed certain to score, Sonuga got a foot in and the ball went straight to Swain. Mason also shot wide after latching on to a long ball from Jon Case, but the Woods also threatened too with Christian having another crisp strike that flew into goalkeeper Michael Watkins arms, and then Osei was also denied by some good handling by Watkins, who caught his shot high.  

Roche was beginning to cause more problems for the Northwood defence and Swain had to save at his feet minutes before the striker gave Marlow a 35th minute lead, volleying home skilfully at the near post after a cross from the right.

There were some signs that the Woods were going to make a contest of it still at the start of the second-half. Tackley knocked a dangerous ball in from the left nut Marlow had numbers back to clear, and then Christian and Cato exchanged passes before the latter had his shot well saved by Watkins, and Osei blasted the rebound over the top.

There was still no sign of what was to come at this stage but after 59 minutes, Daniel Stone got on the end of a corner with a downward header which bounced up and in off the crossbar and the Woods fell apart. Seven minutes later, Roche raced through the defence and Josh Urquhart was on the floor when he blocked his shot, which was going wide, with his arm. Mason tucked the resulting penalty away with great accuracy and the Woods responded with a double substitution; Rodney Hicks and Murray Williamson replacing Scott Raper and Christian.

When Roche raced through again to add a fourth on 71 minutes while Northwood merely picked up yellow cards in reply, until Wayne Jackson came on for Cato and five minutes later he robbed a defender before surprising Watkins with curling chip that reduced the arrears; his first goal for the club. Jackson went close to adding a second two minutes later when a long throw by Sonuga saw Osei tee him up for a strike which flashed just wide.

The brief resurgence was ended when Couch left Sonuga flailing and lifted another one over Swain for a neat finish, and it got even worse in stoppage-time when a Case cross found unmarked substitute Adam Harman, who headed home. Marlow had ripped the Woods apart, and their 6-1 victory took them to the top of the Central Division table.

Having conceded ten goals in two games, the Woods will need to put things right quickly as they have another home game looming just a few days away.

Report by ALAN EVANS

Photos by James Brown