LISTEN: Hard-earned point for GFC at Marlow

The Green Lions visit Binfield today in a re-arranged fixture buoyed by their 1-1 draw at a top-five side on the weekend when Sam Murray gave them the lead in the 47th minute before they were pegged back late on when Aaron McLeish-White netted an equaliser five minutes from time.

‘We’re all really, really proud of the players,’ said coach Steve Sharman, who took charge of the side along with Colin Fallaize in manager Tony Vance’s absence.

‘We would have taken a point before the start of the game, absolutely, with where we are, where they are.

‘I think the game just shows that we can compete with anybody in our league when we’re on our game,’ Sharman told GFC TV,

Although GFC spent much of the game repelling their hosts, they also created other chances of their own.

They had the ball in the net in the first half when Danny Hale cut the ball back for Kieran Mahon to turn home, but the assistant referee flagged to indicate the ball had run out of play in the build up.

At the other end, Josh Addison made a couple of save in the opening 45 minutes while Naheer-Omar Nawaf hit the post for Marlow.

Shortly after the interval, Murray scored his second goal for the club when he hooked home Mahon’s cross.

Having taken the lead, GFC remained resolute at the other end with Addison denying Dawid Rogalski, McLeish-White firing over the bar and then having a shot blocked by Thomas Dodds.

However, the pressure finally told when McLeish-White converted a low cross from the right.

As Marlow pressed for a winner, GFC nearly claimed all three points themselves, but Matt Loaring saw his shot saved at the near post.

‘We’re playing a way that is a little bit conservative when we’re away from home, but I thought we stuck to our task really, really well,’ Sharman said.

‘We did a great low block, great mid-block and then we created opportunities and that’s the best restart we’ve had this season. Normally, we’re not great from restarts, but I thought that’s the best restart at half-time – I thought we were dangerous and we were dangerous right till the end.

‘A bit of backs against the wall for 20 minutes, but that’s what it is.’

Ahead of tonight’s match, Sharman added that one element the coaching team took away from Marlow is that they could have made substitutions earlier that might have helped them.

‘I think there’s an element where there’s got to be a collective honesty between the players as well.

‘We need them to help us on the sideline when they’re tiring. It’s not about feeling “I’m physically all right”, it’s that mental fatigue that’s really important to us, if someone’s not making the right decision and if you’re tired, that happens.

‘I think maybe some of our players need to look at that earlier – they all want to stay on the pitch as long as they possibly can, but we’ve got willing substitutes and we want to get players on, but we only want to do it if it’s right, not just for the sake of getting players on.’

GFC team v Marlow

Addison, Marsh (Domaille 85), Dodd, Fallaize, Alvarez (Merris 34), Vaudin, Dodds, K Mahon, L Mahon, Hale (Loaring 65), Murray.