Marlborough 3 Robinson B 2
On Sunday (March 12) Marlborough men’s first team played their second game of the weekend.
Marlborough once again started the game with lots of possession, the opposition looking to sit with lots of players behind the ball and then counter when the chances arrived.
Marlborough opened the scoring. Captain Anil Sud’s pass found Ed Watson on the baseline, he played the ball across goal and it was finished by Toby Sampson.
Marlborough quickly extended their lead when Matt Way won the ball in his own half, drove to the left to create space to play a defence splitting pass to Alex Renwick on the edge of the circle. Alex rolled his man smartly and found himself one-on-one with the keeper, he dummied to his left to finish from a tight angle.
Marlborough’s territorial dominance led to a number of short corners from which Rich Fynn extended the lead to three with a pin-point strike into the sideboard. Marlborough ended the first half with a three goal lead but back to back green cards for Ollie Davies and Chris Jones was just the tip of the iceberg…
The second half of the game was an incredibly frustrating one, with Marlborough controlling the game anytime they had their full complement of players on the pitch.
Unfortunately this totalled all of about 10 minutes as they found themselves under pressure from their own ill-discipline.
The cards continued with a further green card shown to Freddie Hazlitt before yellows for Will Radnedge, Ryan Noble and Toby Sampson. Fortunately Marlborough managed to retain enough of their composure to remain strong despite conceding two goals and a barrage of short corners.
Will Radnedge in particular managed the game well by breaking up the play and carrying the ball well into space.
Marlborough will have to learn from this game to prepare themselves for next season. Playing in a higher league, these sort of mistakes and mass cardings will get punished.
Marlborough News Online Man of the Match was awarded to Alex Renwick for his continuing development and in particular his calmness in front of goal.