Posted by ChrisB on November 14, 2007, 2:54 pm
After Saturday’s reversal at Windsor & Eton it was important for City to get back on track as soon as possible, and Marlow, traditionally providers of tricky local(ish) derbies would be a good test of the team’s resilience.
With Mark Jones and Ikechi Anya still nursing injuries there was another start for Mark Bell and he caused problems in the first City attack when his well-struck free-kick, after a good run by Steve Davis had been ended prematurely, had ex-City keeper Ian MacTaggart in difficulties, but no City player on hand to take advantage.
After six minutes another City attack was ended at the expense of a corner by the Marlow defence and, though Bell’s initial corner-kick was scrambled clear, it returned to him and a deep cross evaded keeper and defenders to find Andy Gunn closing in on the back post to put City ahead with his fifth goal of the season.
The visitors were finding it hard to make any significant inroads into the City defence whilst the home side were making good use of both flanks to create opportunities, and another run by Davis after 12 minutes led to City increasing their advantage. His cross from the left found Darren Pond in space near the corner of the penalty box and though there was dismay initially as his on-target shot hit Mark Bell, Bell controlled the ball well before the Marlow defence could reach him and fired home from a not altogether easy angle.
The pace of Jermaine McSporran and Steve Davis was causing on-going difficulties for Marlow and they, together with Bell and Alex Stewart, produced two or three more goalworthy opportunities before Marlow’s first real chance came when a free-kick from Jeff Lamb rattled around the penalty box for several seconds before being unceremoniously dispatched upfield by Mark Avery.
McSporran made himself room for a shot with some good footwork on the half-hour and MacTaggart looked concerned before it clipped a defender’s heel and deflected behind for a corner-kick which Bell put into the danger area only to see the keeper do very well to clutch the ball under pressure from Cattell and Gunn.
Stewart fired in a tremendous shot that just scraped the crossbar and cannoned back off the advertising boards, and, soon after, the same player got just too soft a touch on a great cross from McSporran who had chased down a very hopeful long ball just short of the line with the Marlow defenders expecting a goal-kick to be the outcome.
The half ended with Lamb again causing uncertainty in the City defence with a well-hit free-kick that Steve Smith did well to hold, and then James Flint evaded his marker to pull an inviting ball back into the City area from the goal-line but support was too late arriving to capitalise on the chance.
HALF-TIME: City 2-0 Marlow
It looked as though Kevin Stone’s half-time rocket had had an effect as Marlow were encamped in the City half for almost all the first ten minutes of the second period. Steve Smith just tipped over a curling cross from Seb Neptune and it was all hands to the pumps for a few minutes in the City box as clearance after clearance was returned by the Marlow mid-field. What looked as though it might be their best chance to narrow the gap came ten minutes into the half when Aaron Couch was stopped on a run and John Isaac lined up the free-kick from a promising position, but Steve Smith went the right way as the shot came over the wall and held the ball cleanly on the goal-line.
City upped the pace and Stewart set up James Saulsbury for a deep cross into the box and MacTaggart only grasped McSporran’s shot at the second attempt as Stewart challenged. A minute later and Andy Gunn took a quick free-kick that allowed McSporran to get to the goal-line and hit a low ball across the face of the goal which was gleefully driven home at the far post by Bell, and almost from the kick-off a carbon-copy pass in the box saw McSporran’s shot bundled behind by MacTaggart.
With the home side pressing determinedly Marlow were relying on irregular counter-attacks to try to get back into the game, but the game was finally put beyond them in the 65th minute when an accurate pass into the penalty area from Alex Stewart saw MacTaggart and McSporran converge on the ball, and as it spun from the keeper’s grasp Bell struck it firmly and accurately between defender and post for a very well-deserved hat-trick.
The visitors produced another period of good possession without really carving out any clear-cut chances, and for City Mark Janes and Jon Gardner, on for McSporran and Bell, both had a couple of long-range efforts that were not too wide of the mark.
FULL-TIME: Oxford City 4-0 Marlow
City: Smith, Saulsbury, Cattell, Gunn, Pond (Redknap 45), Avery, Bell (Gardner 73), Malone, McSporran (Janes 73), Stewart, Davis.
Marlow: MacTaggart, Smillie, Neptune, Elsegood, Cahill (Stone 68), Lamb, Shepherd, Isaac (Roberts 68), Flint, Couch, Coyne.
So, City bounced back in excellent style from Saturday’s defeat. Plenty of chances were manufactured for the front-runners, and, as always, the defence dealt tidily with what came their way.
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