Marlow 37 Stow 8
Southern Counties North
STOW’S poor run of form continued on Saturday at Marlow where they were soundly beaten, but on the positive side there were glimpses of the play they had shown before Christmas.
Unfortunately the early signs were not good as Stow got on the wrong end of the referee’s whistle and were constantly pulled up.
The home side took an early lead with a penalty and soon afterwards their first try came when Stow were penalised for not releasing and quick-thinking from the scrum half secured the five points.
Stow were struggling to get into the game but a fine Nick Cafearo penalty did give them three points.
However, they were soon further behind when a blindside run resulted in a try in the corner then just before the break a missed tackle in midfield opened a gaping hole and there followed a converted try.
The second half was much better from the visitors’ perspective but, although Stow pressurised, they could not score.
Marlow broke out and ended up with a 5m scrum which they pushed over the Stow line for their bonus point try.
Stow hit back and a good run from Bradley Wrench opened up the Marlow defence and created an overlap for Craig Hughes to score in the corner.
However, Marlow were not finished and, with Stow’s injury list mounting, more missed tackles gifted the hosts their last score.
Fifth placed Stow – now eight points outside the top two – will aim to get back on track when they entertain lowly Milton Keynes on Saturday.
