MARLOW took another giant step towards the South West Division Two title with a 15-6 win over one of their nearest title challengers.o

Their victory over Abbey means that it is now effectively a two-horse race between Marlow and second placed Chippenham for the title.

Just two points separate leaders Marlow from Chippenham after the Wiltshire side kept up the pressure up with a 34-3 win over Olney.

But Abbey's challenge was blown away in the gale at Riverwoods on Saturday although the result was in doubt until Murry Walker's injury-time penalty.

Marlow manager Willie White said: "We're glad to get this one out of the way. The gale made it a lottery so we were just pleased to get a win. It was a potential banana skin but we didn't slip up."

Marlow went for the jugular from the first whistle. Their hard working pack provided the platform and they enjoyed plenty of possession before Walker put the first points on the board with a penalty.

Strong running from Guy Ayland, Jez Frost and Chris Biggs kept the pressure on as Marlow looked the more likely to score a try.

Crucially, when the visitors did win possession, Marlow's defence pressurised the Abbey kickers into missing touch giving Dan Sumpter the opportunity to counter attack from fullback.

An exchange of penalties gave Marlow a 6-3 lead with Walker managing to judge the moment between gusts with a rare skill. At the turn round Abbey squeezed back a penalty to tie the scores but were left with a huge job to do in the second half playing into the teeth of the gale.

Abbey started the second half brightly denying Marlow the ball until Garven De Bruir and Vlad Vondrasek started imposing themselves.

A Walker penalty 10 minutes after the restart snatched back the lead for Marlow which was followed by a huge drop goal to leave Abbey needing a converted try to win.

Man of the Match Jez Frost made sure that didn't happen with some thundering tackles before Walker's late kick made the game safe.