Marlborough 3 Bristol and West 3
After a run of positive results Marlborough made the short trip away trip down the M4 to face Bristol and West. Earlier in the season, the two teams had played out an exciting, end to end game with Marlborough coming out eventual winners.
With the final few games of the season looming large and in desperate need of points, Marlborough started the game brightly and dominated the opening segment. They took the lead in the first ten minutes following a short corner strike from skipper Rich Holman.
Marlborough soon doubled their lead after a thunderous crash ball found a diving James Richardson at the back post for a perfectly executed deflection.
Marlborough, seemingly in control of the game, relaxed their stance somewhat and their discipline was again found lacking when they were reduced to 10 men for a yellow card sin bin offence.
Bristol and West took full advantage of this and soon brought the deficit back to 2-1 and gained a much needed foothold in the game.
With the confidence gained during this spell, Bristol pressed forward even further and came close to levelling the scoring before Marlborough, now restored to 11 men, hit them with a brilliant counter attack down the left hand side.
One pass up the line, one touch control and pass fired through to the D allowed striker Matt Way to continue his success in front of goal with an unbelievable deflected finish from an incredibly tight angle. You just don’t save those. For his miraculous goal Way was awarded the TH White man of the match.
3-1 and looking in control once more, Marlborough’s concentration slipped again allowing Bristol and West to make it 3-2 at half time.
The second half was the opposite of the first half with Bristol and West utterly dominant for long periods and Marlborough reduced to flinging hopeful long balls up the pitch to try and relieve the pressure.
The home side were clearly buoyed on by their vociferous fans and their superior number of substitutes was used efficiently, wearing down the visiting side.
With ten minutes to go Bristol and West got their just rewards when they scored an equaliser which finished the game in terms of scoring.
Several Marlborough players were noticeably downcast after the final whistle as this was such an important game in their survival hopes. One member of the team described the result as “Devastating”.
It means the next game against Swansea Bay will be even more crucial in the side’s bid to prevent relegation from their league.
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