A highly entertaining County Cup tie ended in Beaconsfield progressing to the next round but could so easily have resulted in victory for the hosts Marlow, such was the end to end nature of the game.

A strong Rams side took the lead on twelve minutes when the lively Omari Patrick intercepted a stray back pass to run past the Marlow defence and smash a superb strike into Iain McCulley's next. The lead was short lived though as some hesitation in the Beaconsfield defence allowed Jahson Downes too much space and he placed his shot past Sam Bunting. Sixteen minutes gone and one apiece.

The impressive Jamal Branker put Marlow in front on 21 minutes when a fast run at the Rams defence saw him cut inside and let off a powerful shot that gave Bunting no chance. Beaconsfield continued to plug away, however, and on 29 minutes Omari made the most of some strong Beaconsfield battling in midfield to gather the ball and again give McCulley no chance with his shot.

Jack Read had an effort well saved by The Blues keeper on 30 minutes and sixty seconds later the Marlow custodian saved on the line from Omari whilst at the other end Elliott Carey made a superbly timed tackle to deny Marlow a certain goal on 36 minutes.

The second period saw Reed put a shot just wide on 48 minutes and Omari shoot over the bar five minutes later. On 54 minutes, however, a good flowing Beaconsfield move saw Read set up Aaron Minhas and the hard working midfielder drilled his shot home to put Beaconsfield back in front.

The topsy turvey nature of the game continued when Chris Ovenden equalised for The Blues on 74 minutes after the ball had bounced around the Beaconsfield area. Extra time seemed to be on the cards until the 85th minute when an Omari shot hit the Marlow bar but Aaron Minhas connected with the loose ball to restore The Rams lead and finally put them in to the next round.

Whilst of a lot of clubs use competitions like County Cups as little more than practice matches, both Marlow and Beaconsfield should be applauded for fielding near full strength sides and putting on a fine evening of "proper" football that had The Rams Chairman hoping for MK Dons away in the next round!.

Come On You Rams!

Beaconsfield Team:

1. Sam Bunting
2. Elliott Carey
3. Robert Gerrard
4. Lee Togwell (Captain)
5. Guri Demuria
6. Alex Murray
7. Tristan Campbell
8. Aaron Minhas
9. Jack Read (Sub: Aaron Berry, 82)
10. Charlie Losasso
11. Omari Patrick

Subs Not Used:
14. Tom Gant
15. Timothy Wohlfiel
16. Callum Bunting

Attendance: 73