October 7, 2025
Tonight saw a rearranged league fixture which was originally scheduled for September 20th, but was postponed due to Thame’s involvement in the FA Trophy. 21st in the table were hosting 16th.
Marlow had two more points than Thame but had played one game more, but victory tonight for Thame would take them above Marlow.
Following last Tuesday’s 2-2 home draw with AFC Dunstable, Thame exited the FA Trophy on Saturday after a 0-2 home defeat to Step 3 Banbury United in front of a healthy crowd of 190.
Marlow FC
Marlow are one of the oldest clubs in the country and are celebrating their 155th anniversary this year. They proudly boast of having applied to enter the FA Cup in every season the competition has been organised, although for some reason there was one year when they didn’t actually play a match.
These diaries had visited Marlow’s Alfred Davis Memorial Ground on three occasions, the last of which was in January 2024, when Marlow beat Metropolitan Police 4-0 in the Isthmian South-Central Division. After finishing second in the league, Marlow went on to win promotion to step 3 by beating Westfield and Leatherhead in the play-offs.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2024/01/marlow-4-0-metropolitan-police-att-220.html
Marlow were rewarded with a place in the Southern League Premier South for last season but they finished bottom, to return to step 4, and had been allocated to the Southern League Division One Central for this season rather than returning to the Isthmian League.
Last season, Marlow had an average home attendance of 269 which compared to 220 in 2023/24.
Marlow This Season
Marlow arrived at the ASM stadium with a 2-0-5 league record. Their season commenced with a 0-2 defeat at Barton Rovers, but they bounced back to thump Aylesbury United 3-0. Three consecutive defeats were then suffered, Beaconsfield Town ( H 2-3 ), Stotfold ( A 0-2 ) and Hadley ( H 2-3 ). Marlow recovered to win 2-1 at Northwood Town but last time out slumped to a 1-4 home loss to Hitchin Town, being 0-4 down at half-time.
In the FA Cup, Marlow beat Binfield 2-1 but exited the competition at the next round with 0-4 hammering at the hands of step 3 Chatham Town.
In the FA Trophy, Marlow unexpectedly lost 0-3 at home to Crawley based Three Bridges from step 4.
Marlow’s average home league attendance to-date this season was 175
Marlow Squad
Only three of the side that played against Metropoliotan Police in 2023 were still at the club, defenders Chris Ovenden and Josh Masters and winger Naheer Nawaf. Long serving defender Alex Salmon was still with the club but missed the Met Police game.
From the team that featured against the Met, star Polish striker Dawid Rogalski was now with step 3 Walton & Hersham, and was currently the leading goal-scorer in their division. Veteran forward Dave Tarpey was forced to retire after an ACL injury, whilst forward Rhys Harper was now with Uxbridge.
Winger Kai Hamilton-Olise was now at South Park Reigate after a spell with Harrow Borough, keeper Arron Watkins was with Hayes and Yeading, as was centre-back Louis Rogers. Defender Elijah Oladunjoye was now with Hanwell Town, whilst Dan Mulley was out with a long-term injury whilst playing for Hanworth Villa.
Marlow’s top scorer this season was ex-Aylesbury United winger Luqman Kassim, who featured in these diaries in a 0-4 defeat at the ASM last season. He would be missing tonight though as he had signed up to be part of the 6-a-side Ballers League UK competition.
Keeper Ryan North was at Leverstock Green last season whilst striker Shaun Moore was with Thatcham Town. Midfielder Kwesi Ntim had experience last season with Risborough Rangers and Harrow Borough, Jacob Wilson was previously with Holyport and Thatcham, whilst midfielder Flavio Gyawu-Kyem was ex-FC Romania and Arlesey Town
Manager Mark Bartley was now in his 14th season in the Marlow hot seat and numbered Thame amongst his previous clubs as a player.
Previous Meetings
The most recent meeting between the two sides was in the FA Cup in August 2022, in a game which was selected to be live streamed on the BBC website. Fatbear was out of the country at the time but access to the BBC stream was restricted to just the UK, which was perhaps just as well as Marlow won 3-1 !
Despite their close geographical proximity, Thame and Marlow have usually been placed in different divisions, so league meetings have been infrequent. In 2017/18 both sides were placed in the Southern League Division One East where honours were even, with Thame winning 4-0 at home, but losing 1-3 away.
Prior to that the next most recent meetings were in 2012/13 after Marlow had suffered an unexpectedly relegation and had to play in the Hellenic League. Marlow romped to an immediate return to step 4 losing only one game all season, but one of their 6 draws was a 2-2 draw at home to Thame. Marlow won the return in Thame 2-1.
However, a long time ago Marlow and Thame used to compete regularly against each other. In 2005/06 Fatbear attended a Christmas fixture in Marlow between the two sides when Marlow scored two late goals by substitute, and former Thame player, Colin Simpson to win 2-0.
Prior to that, Fatbear saw an Easter Bank Holiday Monday fixture at Thame’s Windmill Road ground, where they were victorious 4-0. One of the goal scorers was ex-Wycombe Wanders’ legend Mark West, father of current Thame player Dan West. My one memory of the game was the introduction of a Marlow substitute, who was greeted by the travelling Marlow supporters to the chant of Kraftwerk’s “He’s a model and he’s looking good !”. Apparently, he earned his living as a model, but I didn’t note which one of the substitutes he was !
Matchday Information
The journey from Marlow to Thame is 25 miles and normally takes less than 30 minutes up the M40. Around 25 Marlow supporters looked to have made the journey.
The weather at the 19.45 kick-off was dry and the temperature was around 13 degrees.
Entrance to the game was £10 for adults and £5 for concessions, £3 for Under 16s, whilst under 5s went in for free. A large cup of tea cost £1.50. An online programme had been produced for the match.
Marlow made three changes to the side that started the loss to Hitchin, with Harvey Maunder, who scored the goal against Hitchin, Cheyce Grant and Charlie Samuel coming into the side in place of Moore, Abdallah Khalil and Gyawu-Kyem.
Thame made four changes to the side that lost to Banbury, with the return of Finlay Murray to the back four, Abu Khan at right-back, Ethan Lack in midfield and Lance Williams upfront. Curtis Brown, Jack Tutton, Jenson Wright and Louis Walsh all dropped to the bench.
Matchday Report
The opening phase of the match was uneventful, with the first piece of action occurring in the 11th minute when a nice move featuring West, Williams and Greg Hackett led to Lack’s 20-yard attempt being blocked. Khan then went on a promising run but his pass for Alexander was overhit and went off for a goal-kick.
Hackett then played a clever chip over the square Marlow backline but left-back Alfie Agar did well to prevent the ball reaching Alexander.
Marlow were first seen as an attacking threat in the 17th minute when Maunder swung a free-kick left-footed from close to the right touchline into the 6-yard box but Ovenden could only put the ball over the bar, but the linesman’s flag was raised for offside anyway.
A minute later Maunder shot left-footed from 25 yards but his low effort forced a save from Thame keeper Johnny Pettitt, diving to his left.
Hackett took possession from Enrique Tiamuna but his through ball for West was too heavy and rolled through to North. Hackett then skipped past Ntim and Tiamuna close to the left-hand touchline but was chopped down.
In the 23rd minute Petitt was almost embarrassed when Nawaf charged down his attempted clearance but the rebounded bounced away from danger. Thame centre-back Luke Tingey then did well to intercept a dangerous looking cross by Grant.
At the other end, West played in Lack to run into the Marlow area but his shot was blocked, and Alexander spooned the loose ball high into the air, and it drifted over the bar.
Thame put together another good move when Lack’s header found Hackett, who released Williams. The striker opted to try and tee up Alexander rather than go for goal himself, but the pass struck a Marlow defender, and keeper North was able to change direction and gather the ball.
The best chance of the game to-date came in the 30th minute. Tingay played a long ball out of the Thame defence to which keeper North decided to leave his area to try and play. Unfortunately for the keeper, Hackett got to the ball first and rounded North, but the attempt to roll the ball into the vacant goal lacked power, and Salmon was able to get back and clear off the line. It was a great chance !
Two minutes later Callum Hall’s shot from 20 yards, after a ball from Murray, was smartly pushed away for a corner by the diving North. Thame’s short corner routine saw Alexander’s shot blocked. In-between the two efforts from Thame, Maunder ran into the Thame penalty area but was stopped by a good tackle by Murray.
With 37 minutes played, a Marlow free-kick was well headed away by West under pressure close to his goal-line.
Agar then did well to intercept a pass from Hackett intended for Alexander and then followed up with a strong tackle to win the ball from Lack. Maunder then ran into the Thame area but went to ground far too easily, and although there were some half-hearted appeals for a penalty, the referee was unimpressed.
Nawaf became the first player to be shown a yellow card when he deliberately prevented Thame from taking a quick throw-in.
Thame then became frustrated with the linesman as Hackett twice, then Alexander, were flagged offside when running clear in a period off less than two minutes. All looked very close from the other end of the pitch !
Alexander then broke clear without the flag being raised, but Agar did well to get back and play the ball off Alexander. Surprisingly the officials gave a corner when it looked a pretty obvious goal-kick. The in-swinging corner was headed goalwards, but Agar, positioned at the far post cleared off the line.
Shortly after, a Thame long throw led to a scramble in the Marlow area and a goal bound shot was blocked by an arm. The referee deemed it to be handball and awarded a penalty. Wilson was shown a yellow card, presumably for his protests against the decision. Alexander stepped up and sent North the wrong way to give Thame the lead. 1-0 with 44 minutes played.
Marlow went on the attack from the restart but Maunder’s shot on the turn took a deflection and Pettitt made an easy save.
A moment of potential controversy occurred moments later. Williams broke clear but was brought down by Ovenden. The ball fell to Hackett who optimistically went from goal from 40+ yards and put the ball well wide. The referee had played an advantage but didn’t come back to show a card to the Marlow player, which possibly might have been red with there being no obvious covering defender.
Pettitt needed to be alert to come off his line and bravely save as Grant was about the run onto a through ball. Thame worked the ball to the edge of the Marlow area and West was able to turn and fire into the bottom corner with North motionless. 2-0 with 45+4 minutes played.
After a poor first 30 minutes, the game had improved in the final 15 minutes. Thame were worthy of their lead, they had scored two goals, and twice saw the ball cleared off the line.
Marlow began the second half brightly with Maunder feeding Nawaf, who sent a fierce shot across the face of the goal and narrowly wide. Thame’s response was for Lack to send an inviting cross towards the far post where Hackett and Ntim dived for it, but both players missed the ball, which went off for a goal-kick. West then spotted North far from his goal-line and attempted to beat the keeper from 35 yards, but his effort sailed just over the bar with the keeper stranded.
Alexander and Lack then combined to release Khan to the byline, but the whipped cross went just over the head of Brown, who had just come on as a substitute.
Brown was in the action shortly after, running onto a long cross-field ball from Tingey, cutting inside past Ntim and sent a shot aiming for the top corner but was denied by an excellent diving finger-tip save from North.
A flowing Thame move ended when Lack was chopped down for a free-kick just outside the Marlow area on the right-hand side. Alexander floated kick was sent towards the back post but Ovenden made an important header to prevent Tingay heading home from close range
Williams did well to keep the ball in play close to the corner flag, getting to it ahead of Ntim and then played it back to Brown, who delivered a fantastic curling cross toward the far post. Riddick got to it and headed back across goal for the ball to nestle just inside the post for a splendid goal. 3-0 after 56 minutes.
Perhaps Thame unconsciously took their foot off the pedal, but after going three down Marlow enjoyed a good spell of pressure. Nawaf ran down the right-wing but Hall did a good job to get back and concede a corner. Nawaf then brushed past Hall and played a square ball towards Gyawu-Kyem but before the Marlow man could side-foot home he was bundled over for a clear penalty in the 67th minute. Nawaf saw his effort from the spot well saved by Pettitt diving to his left and gathered at the second attempt.
Ntim had a shot deflected off for a corner then Nawaf again got to the byline but saw his low cross put out of a corner. Maunder hit the floor outside the Thame penalty area and thinking he had been fouled put his hand on the ball, only for the referee to give Thame a free-kick for handball ! A few minutes later Maunder then sent a 20 yard free-kick over the defensive wall, but also over the bar.
The one chance for Thame during this period saw Brown’s shot saved by the legs of North after being put in to space by West.
Thame upped their tempo as the game entered its final 20 minutes. A cross from Wright was inadvertently put over his own bar by Ovenden, after which Khan’s long run ended with a foul by Agar. The free-kick was drilled into the 6-yard box and Calvin Gitiba put it over his own bar. The corner was headed towards goal by Riddick and reached Walsh, who turned and shot home from 8 yards through a crowd of players. It was probably Walsh’s first touch after coming and the score was now 4-0 after 83 minutes.
Walsh nearly grabbed his second goal of the evening, but after twisting and turning, his left-footed shot from the edge of the area was pushed away by the diving North for a corner.
As the clock ticked into added time Gyawu-Kyem’s run ended when the was robbed of the ball by Khan, then Brown ran past two Marlow defenders to the left hand byline, but no-one was on hand to put away his pull-back.
Thame’s convincing victory took them up 7 places in the table to 14th whilst Marlow dropped into the bottom four by virtue of their worsening goal difference. Marlow look to be in for a long season fighting against relegation, whilst Thame can realistically look forward to climbing into the top half of the table.
Thame United : Pettitt – Khan, Tingey, Murray, Hall – Hackett ( Brown ), West ( Tutton ), Lack ( Njogu ), Riddick – Williams ( Walsh ), Alexander ( Wright )
Marlow : North – Ntim, Ovenden, Salmon, Agar ( Brough ) – Maunder, Wilson ( Popov ), Tiamuna ( Gitiba ), Grant ( Branker ) – Nawaf, Samuel ( Gyawu-Kyem )
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