At last, back to the League, even if only for a short time. Having been heavily beaten in their last League game just before Christmas away to Stonewall (4 - 0), Marsh set about this game in an enthusiastic way but with a little caution. Sabha are a very useful team from the Berks & Bucks area (Burnham) learning Adult Football. They are learning very quickly, and play a good game. Marsh had played them earlier in the season, and beaten them 1-0 so a difficult game was expected. Don’t let the score line fool you..... Marsh had to work hard for this result and did so. In the end it became a lot easier but in the beginning it was hard work.
Sabha thought they had got a penalty when one of their forwards was fouled. They, and a linesman, thought it was in the area but the Referee thought otherwise. He gave a free kick just outside the Marsh area which was cleared safely. Although Sabha were still in the match Marsh now started to wake up and play some excellent football. They dominated for a long period without being able to make it count. After 23 minutes Alex Henderson had two attempts to centre the ball, then found debutant BRADLEY HAND who wasted no time in opening his account by blasting the ball into the lower corner of the Sabha net outside the reach of the keeper. Marsh continued to push forward but could not score again. Sabha never gave in, and a long vicious shot just before half time was well turned away by Marsh keeper Adam Casey who appeared to have a “They Shall Not Pass“ attitude about him. ( In fact whenever called upon to save he did so extremely well, but don’t tell him as it goes to his head !!!!!!! ). Only 1 – 0 to Marsh at half time but rest assured you could guarantee even more action in the second half.
Sabha came out determined to have a go at puling this back BUT within the first minute a shot by DANIEL LOBJOIT doubled Marsh’s lead. This seemed to knock all the stuffing out of Sabha and even though they did not give up, Marsh grew stronger & stronger. STEVE CLOHERTY ran half the length of the pitch dribbling the ball past 3 attempted tackles and drove the ball into the back of the net. On 70 minutes, a slightly tiring BRADLEY HAND finished off with an excellent strikers shot for number 4. ( Looks an asset to the Team, but this was his first match so Reserve Judgement for a short while......... but did look good ). The scoring was finished off by TOM VEAL finishing off a well worked move by a number of Marsh players to make it 5 – 0. As stated, Sabha had never given in and the Marsh defence needed to stay awake, which they did do, but Marsh Rangers F.C. had shown they had that “little bit of QUALITY" needed to WIN important matches and completed their first "double" of the season.
Reported by Clive Goodman