January 13, 2024
With many of my usual local suspects either not playing or having fixtures a long way away, today was a chance to visit Marlow since the first time since September 2021, when these diaries covered their 1-0 victory over Westfield.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2021/09/marlow-1-0-westfield-att-142-isthmian.html
Marlow Update
Last season Marlow finished third but lost out in the promotion play-offs with a 1-2 home defeat at home to Hanworth Villa. In 2021/22 they finished 7th.
Marlow started the day in 5th place with a 13-2-5 record, 10 points behind leaders Southall but with two games in hand. In mid-week they drew 2-2 at Badshot Lea, prior to which they had won their previous two matches. However, this came after a mini slump where they had lost 3 on the trot in December.
The average home league attendance this season was 204.
Ex-Chalfont St Peter Polish striker Dawid Rogalski was their top scorer with 21 goals in all competitions, with Rhys Harper next with 8 goals. Attacker Dave Tarpey signed from Leatherhead in November, after a long career with Maidenhead United, and captain Chris Ovenden has been with the club since 2012. Winger Kai-Hamilton Olise numbers the Met. Police amongst his former clubs.
Prior to the game, Marlow announced the loan signing of winger Cameron Thompson from Cray Wanderers, who was on the substitutes along with Noah Amissah, who is dual registered with Holyport. Marlow made one change from the side that drew 2-2 at Badshot Lea, with Tarpey coming in for Nawaf.
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police football side used to all be employees of the Force until the rule requiring players to be staff was removed in the early 2000s when the Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson refused to sanction time off for playing. However, the club is still part-funded by a police staff lottery.
Met Police play at the 3,000 capacity Imber Court, in East Moseley, the base of the Met Police Sports and Social Club, which also hosts other sports on its grounds, including rugby and dog training…..
Their home kit is unsurprisingly all blue and apparently they take to the pitch to “I Fought The Law” by The Clash, ( and of course the Law won ! )
Despite finishing eighth in the Premier Division South in 2022/23, the club were voluntarily relegated to the South-Central Division of the Isthmian League due to a reduction in funding and a need to reduce travel costs.
Met Police have reached the First Round proper of the FA Cup on 5 occasions, the last in 2017/18 when they hosted Newport County. They have twice been drawn at home against Crawley Town ( 1993/94 & 2012/13 ), at home to Dartford ( 1984/85 ) and away at Northampton ( 1931/32 ).
I attended the 1993/94 Cup Tie against Crawley, which Crawley won 2-0 thanks to goals from Craig Whitington and Joff Vansittart, in front of a crowd of 1,561.
The match against Dartford was one of the matches covered by Match Of The Day that day, and the Football Focus preview had the clichéd clip of the players running onto the Imber Court pitch in Constable uniforms, regardless if they were CID, IT or Finance !
In the early 1970’s, Met Police were in the Southern League Division One South and played Crawley Town on a number of occasions, and the sides were evenly matched. Between 1971 and 1977, I watched four league matches at Crawley’s Town Mead, which ended in two wins a piece. I also watched an FA Trophy game in 1972/73, which Crawley won 3-2, and perhaps more infamously in 1973/74, there was a match in the Mid-Surrey Professional Mid-Week Floodlight league, which due to Cup exits, was played on a Saturday in broad daylight. Crawley won 5-4, with three late goals ( if I remember correctly ) in a case of daylight robbery !
Imber Court was the venue for my first ever away match watching Crawley, in 1976/77, travelling on the team coach to the game. It was a dreadful 0-0 ! My only memory of the day is of Crawley assistant manager Dave Haining trying to listen to LBC radio on the coach home to get the other results in the division that day.
My one other visit to Imber Court was in 1992/93, when I saw the Met Police beat Hampton 4-0 in a sort of local derby.
Met Police started the day in 14th place, with a 5-6-11 record, and 2-3-4 away from home. They had three wins in last 6 games ( Hanworth Villa A 1-0, Corinthian Casuals H 3-0, Thatcham A 2-0 ) but in their last two games they had drawn 1-1 at home to Badshot Lea and lost 0-1 at Northwood.
The average home average attendance at Imber Court this season was 123.
The Isthmian League website is the worst of all leagues in the top 6 levels of the non-league pyramid for providing statistics on player appearances, goals etc, and the Met Police website is also delinquent in this matter as well. However, the Marlow online programme did contain pen pictures of the Met Police squad.
With some internet searching, I could find that Kareem Akinnibi had scored 8 goals in all competitions and had been the top marksman for the Met, but had signed for Badshot Lea at the start of January. Forward Alex Body had scored 6 goals, with Mason Galloway and ex-Marlow full-back/midfielder Adam Green on 4. Jamal Andrew Sharpe had scored three goals in their last 4 matches but was an unused substitute today.
Keeper Liam Beech previously played for Farnborough and Carshalton, and midfielder Charlie Brown played University football in the USA, presumably for peanuts ? However, most of their squad had progressed from the Met’s Under 23 side.
Met Police have joint managers, Suj Khera and Scott Kemp.
Matchday Information
When the two sides met earlier in the season midweek under floodlights, Marlow ran out 2-1 winners in what was described as a “hard fought contest” thanks to two goals from top scorer David Rogalski.
Admission today was £10 for adults and £5 for concessions. The matchday programme was published free and available on the Marlow website. A pint of Rebellion Lager and Thatcher’s Gold cider in the bar came to £9.80, with other beers on tap being Rebellion IPA, Rebellion Roasted Nut, Becks Vier and Guinness.
The journey for the Met Police from East Moseley was 37 miles, which should take around an hour. I didn’t notice any Met Police supporters in the ground but it sounded like there were 4 groundhoppers in the bar near to us before kick-off.
The temperature at the 15.00 kick-off on a dry day was 5 degrees.
With Marlow is their usual all blue kit, Met Police were in a change outfit of all red so were not able to present a thin blue line. The Police keeper wore a dark purple shirt and as the darkness approached looked pretty similar to the Marlow shirts.
Prior to announcing the line-ups over the tannoy, the announcer greeted the crowd with “Evening All” !
As an indication of the cosmopolitan nature of the Isthmian League, today’s officials were Fabio Roque, Adriana Bucur and Bogdan Caraghin. The Met Police matchday squad contained 4 players with double-barrelled names.
Match Report
The match got off to a lively start, with Met Police’s Mendoza seeing a shot pushed around the post by keeper Watkins for a corner, shortly after which Body dived inside the area to try and win a penalty but with no contact the referee waved play on. Body was not a corpse.
At the other end, Tarpey’s free-kick was tipped over the bar by the long arm of the Police keeper. The subsequent corner was partially cleared and crossed back into the penalty area by Curtis. Ovenden stole in unnoticed at the back post, but could only head well over the bar.
Olise then got into a good position on the right wing for Marlow, but could only cross into the arms of keeper Beach, and then with 8 minutes played Masters chopped down Ikebuasu just outside the Marlow penalty area on the right to give the visitors a free-kick in a promising position. Mendoza’s free-kick was low and heading inside the near post until Watkins dived to push it away for another corner for the Met. When the corner was reworked back into the Marlow area, Ernest’s shot on the turn went narrowly over the bar.
The first piece of Police brutality occurred in the 13th minute, when Kirlew-Wright brought down Olise for the first yellow card of the game. Mulley then played in Tarpey but Kirlew-Wright redeemed himself with a fine block at the expense of a corner. Again, the delivery was long, and again the unmarked Overden headed over the bar. You could say it was criminal defending but so was the finish.
Keeper Watkins then launched a Marlow attack with a long throw to Olise, who sped towards the Police area with the defenders in hot pursuit, but the cross was well held by the diving Beach. At the other-end, Body did well to get to the Marlow by-line but his pull-back was missed by Charlie Brown near the penalty spot.
Oladunjoye then played a long-ball down the right-hand channel to put Tarpey free but again Kirlew-Wright made a good tackle to concede a corner. The set-piece caused chaos in the Police defence, with the ball appearing to hit Ovenden and then fell kindly for Tarpey to hammer home from 6 yards. 1-0 to Marlow after 20 minutes.
Met Police looked to immediately strike back but when Ikebuasu cut in from wide on the right, his left-footed shot was tipped over the bar. From the corner, Kirlew-Wright headed well over.
The second goal of the match arrived in the 31st minute. Masters played a free-kick from close to the Met by-line back to Curtis, who unleashed a fierce 20 yarder into the top corner of the goal, giving Beach no chance. 2-0 to Marlow.
Kirlew-Wright was perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch after a bad foul on Oladunjoye, and when Marlow manager Mark Bartley furiously complained to the referee, the official made a VAR sign !
Marlow were finishing the first half strongly, and Overden chipped ahead for Tarpey to run clear, but the left-footed shot was blocked by keeper Beach and the ball squeezed under his body and trickled away just past the post for a corner. The set-piece was headed on by Overden for Tarpey to turn and shoot low into the corner of the net from around 6 yards for a goal-poachers’ finish. 3-0 to Marlow with 43 minutes on the clock.
There was still life in the visitors though and Mendoza dribbled past two Marlow defenders to shoot low towards the near post. Watkins made the save and the loose ball was hoofed away for a corner, from which Ernest headed over the bar from a good position.
As the game continued to be end-to-end, Tarpey was put clear by a long ball but his left-footed shot went across the face of the goal and narrowly wide.
Four minutes of added time were played, and in the second of these, a flowing Marlow move Rogalski put Olise clear inside the area, but his shot with the outside of his right foot was saved by Beach, but there was still time for Met’s Green to have a shot pushed off for a corner, and for Nkosi to head the set-piece high over the bar.
Rogalski then again played in Olise, but the shot across the goal went wide. At the half-time whistle, the two Met Police managers and their assistants stayed on the pitch for a good 5 minutes before heading into the dressing room, presumably exercising their little grey cells in search of a way back into the match.
It had been an entertaining first half which could have been 5-3, but to use a cliché, apart from the three goals, there didn’t appear to be much between the two sides !
Just before the start of the second half, the tannoy announcer announced if the floodlights could be put on, and then did anyone have 50 pence for the meter ? At today’s energy prices, that wouldn’t last long………
The second half was far less action packed, perhaps with Marlow in control and the visitors unable to make much of an impact despite plenty of endeavour.
Ovenden again headed a corner over the bar, and when a long ball but Rogalski on goal, he made a pig’s ear of the chance and could only fire into the side netting. Tarpey was in search of his hat-trick but a free-kick went over the wall but was saved at his near post by Beach.
Marlow midfielder Simmo saw a left-footed attempt pushed away by Beach and fortunately for the keeper just away from the lurking Tarpey, but the fourth goal came two minutes later.
Met substitute Enajar flattened Mulley but the referee played a good advantage as the ball rolled forward into the path of Tarpey, who slid the ball past the advancing keeper for his hat-trick. The referee did go back and booked Enajar for the foul. 4-0 to Marlow after 66 minutes.
Met Police had hardly threatened in the second half and now looked a beaten side. They did win a corner but Nkosi’s flicked header just evaded the stretching Ernest at the far post and went off for a goal-kick.
The last 20 minutes were very much an anti-climax as Marlow coasted to victory. Kirlew-Wright made another good interception to prevent Nawaf’s through ball reaching Tarpey, and the Police failed to grab a consolation goal when a scramble in the Marlow goalmouth hit Body, and Reid scooped the loose ball goalwards but Watkins made a routine save.
For Marlow, Mulley had a 25 yard effort blocked and in added on time Amissah shot just wide of the post from distance.
At the final whistle, the three points for Marlow took them up to 4th in the table, 7 points behind new leaders Chertsey Town. After being murdered, the Met Police dropped to 16th.
Online Programme : https://www.marlowfc.co.uk/downloads/marlow/2024-13-01-24-MFC_vs_Met-Police-FC.pdf
Marlow : Watkins – Oladunjoye, Rogers, Ovenden, Masters – Olise ( Thompson ), Mulley, Curtis, Simmo ( Amissah ) – Rogalski ( Nawaf ), Tarpey
Metropolitan Police : Beach – Ernest, Nkosi, Kirlew-Wright ( Walters ), Gillfillan-Waul – Ikebuasu ( Enajar ), Green, Owusu-Boakye ( Reid ), Brown - Mendoza, Body
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