Marlow Youth (04/03/2001)
2000 - 2001 Season, Hithercroft Under 14s



The weather was cold and the ground was slightly muddy but in good condition given the recent weather. Des Ife ran the line and Alex Vickery was the referee.

The first half was dominated by Hithercroft with most of the play in the visitor’s half. Jerome Warren began with his customary shot straight at the Marlow goalkeeper. His next attempt from a wide angle went over the crossbar. Shahid Ahmad had a long run at the goal but a defender managed to kick the ball away before Shahid could take a shot. Dewayne Dublin then tried a shot but it went over the bar. Nothing came of Hithercroft’s corners but after 20 minutes of play Jerome passed across field to Dewayne, who returned the ball for Jerome to score from an angle. Then Adeel Iqbal, after a superb piece of dribbling round defenders, had a shot which the Marlow goalie just managed to tip over the bar. Shortly before the break Jason Guy scored the final goal of the half making Hithercroft 2-0 up.

The second half was very different with the play more even and there was more end-to-end play. After 25 minutes Marlow’s Daniel Birch ran in from the wing, and despite Kevin Ife’s attempt to intercept him, he hit the ball over Lee Hudson’s head and into the Hithercroft net to reduce the deficit to just one goal. However, within the next 5 minutes Jerome had scored again for Hithercroft and he completed his hattrick 2 minutes later. This was how the game finished with the home team triumphing 4-1.

The back four of Richard Sunderland, Kevin Ife, Jason Guy and James Moody played extremely well this week, as did all the Hithercroft team. Before this game Marlow were second in the division and Hithercroft were fourth, 5 points in arrears so this result has put Hithercroft just 2 points behind them with the same number of games played.