Marlow enjoy a happy Christmas

10:20am Thursday 5th January 2006

MARLOW picked up seven points out of a possible nine over the Christmas period to begin 2006 in fifth place in Division One West.

After their 2-0 defeat of Thame on December 27, they followed that up with another 2-0 victory at home this time over Ashford Town.

And Marlow nearly had a maximum nine points when they led Hemel Hempstead 1-0 on Monday with just five minutes to go, only for Hemel to equalise.

The results keep Marlow in the play-off hunt however and has increased the gap between fifth and sixth position.

Saturday saw Marlow score at either end of the game to sink Ashford.

Just five minutes had gone when Johnny Isaac found the back of the net to put Marlow 1-0 up.

The Oak Tree Roaders then had chances to double their lead before making the game safe with five minutes left when Jermaine Roche netted.

The New Year started with Marlow again on top when they visited Hemel.

Simon Herbert had already hit the bar for Marlow before Jack Smillie opened the scoring on 41 minutes with a deflected effort.

Marlow found themselves under the cosh in the second half and they had Ian MacTaggart to thank for keeping them in the lead when he saved Grant Carney's 56th minute penalty.

But just as it looked like Marlow would claim all three points, Hemel equalised when John Beale's headed clearance only found Fabio Valenti and his powerful volley found the net.

In the same division, Thame found themselves slip further behind at the bottom after their match at Paulton Rovers was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Thame were set to entertain Brackley at Aylesbury yesterday evening.