MARLOW missed out on promotion to South West One for a second year running by the narrowest of margins on Wednesday evening.

Derek White's men beat Chinnor in their final league game of the season to finish joint top with Salisbury, but the 29-6 win could not beat Salisbury's better points difference.

Boths teams finished the season on 35 points, but it's Salisbury that go up.

Marlow needed a clear 30 points win from Wednesday evening's game at Riverwoods to beat Salisbury's on goal difference and win promotion.

They looked to be heading for it as they took the game to fourth place Chinnor but disaster struck when Mark Stevely was sent off and Marlow were left one short in the pack.

Spokeswoman Diane Lake: "We missed out on promotion by six points. It was a brilliant match, but it was very disappointing."

It means Marlow will now face old rivals Wycombe in league matches next season, as well as Amersham and Chiltern whose own promotion push petered out earlier than Marlow's

Last Saturday, Marlow's 36-15 win at Bournemouth bolstered the promise of a strong final league run in and the chance of promotion.

But in truth Marlow had let the title slip earlier in the season with several costly league defeats after a good run in the NPI Cup. White had warned of the danger at the time, but Wednesday night was when they paid for it.

Now the side will be looking to salvage something from their season when they take on league rivals Amersham in the semi-finals of the Bucks Cup on Sunday.

Marlow won the county cup two years ago, but Sunday's contest could be close run with the two sides winning a match apiece in the league.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.