Marlow were the latest victims at Cherrywood Road on Tuesday night, as Boro swept through a potentially tricky game with a high tempo, hard-working display that gave the visitors little chance.

An own goal mid-way through the first half set them on their way, before goals from strike duo Michael Bartley and Marcus Richardson sealed a convincing victory that stretches their lead over second place Didcot Town.

The Railwaymen can cut the gap to five points if they win their game in hand, but at this crucial stage of the campaign it is certainly better to have points on the board than fixtures to catch up on.

Didcot, who dropped points at Andover on Saturday having been knocked off top spot a few days before, will now be under huge pressure to win their tough-looking game with Paulton Rovers on Saturday.

Boro boss Andy Clement said in his programme notes before Tuesday’s game that his side’s five point lead was a big one at this point in the run-in. Although he played down the eight-point gap at the top, he too was hopeful that Boro’s promotion rivals may be feeling the pressure.

"It puts everyone else under a bit of pressure," he said. "That’s what it’s all about, but it’s not over until it’s over mathematically.

"We have been chasing all season, but now we are on top and we have got ourselves in a strong position.

"We are getting clean sheets, scoring goals, and if we keep performing like we did tonight we won’t lose many games.

"It was a good win and a good performance as well. We were outstanding and if we had put away all our chances then we would have been looking at at 10-0 rather than three. I can’t give them anything but credit for tonight."

Clement made one change to the side that easily beat Hillingdon Borough on Saturday, with Dave Woozley returning in place of Nic Ciardini. That meant Adam Doyle moved into midfield and Woozley stepped into the back four alongside Luke Evans.

Doyle had a terrific game in the holding midfield role, allowing Leigh Rumbold and Rob Saunders to roam forward to good effect, causing the visitors all sorts of problems.

Boro started in determined fashion, and relentlessly penned Marlow back in their own half for the first 20 minutes before the inevitable breakthrough.

Richardson blazed wildly over the bar when free down the left, and Rumbold played Bartley clean through, only for the in-form striker to overrun the ball with a heavy touch as Boro pressed.

After 21 minutes they broke through, with Bartley the provider. He skipped past a tackle on the edge of the area and drilled in a low cross-shot that Jeff Lamb could only turn into his own net under huge pressure form Richardson.

Boro have been guilty of some slack starts to games at time this season, and Clement said he had made it clear they needed to begin this game in the right way.

"I said to the boys that they have to go out there and start the game quickly," he said. "At times this season we have started too slowly.

"Tonight we drilled it into them that we needed to start well and keep that tempo up all game. We did that and never looked like losing it to be fair."

Boro maintained their stranglehold on the game and just after the half hour mark they doubled their lead.

Ryan Hill clipped the ball down the line and Rumbold burst forward from midfield, showing more pace, power and determination to beat Scott Webb. He raced into the area and pulled the ball back for Bartley, who slid home his fifth goal in four games with ease.

Darren Wheeler should have added to the tally moments later, and then, on the stroke of half time, Woozley and Evans suffered a sickening collision of heads as they jumped for the same ball.

A lengthy stoppage followed as Woozley went down with blood coming from his head, while Evans was taken off for stitches to a cut on his eyelid.

Woozley returned to the pitch with a Terry Butcher-style head bandage, but Evans was unable to continue and Clement was uncertain how long the pair may be missing for.

"It was really unfortunate about the two centre-halves, but it was one of those things," he said.

"We will need to monitor them this week and see how it goes. But we coped with it well during the game, and although it may leave us a little bit short, we will have Rob Marshall [who warmed up with the squad before the game] back involved on Saturday."

The second half continued in much the same pattern as the first, and Boro killed off any hopes Marlow may have harboured of a comeback after 58 minutes.

Wheeler whipped a curling freekick to the back post where Bartley beat Marlow keeper Ian MacTaggart to the ball. His header down left Richardson with the simplest of tasks to tap home Boro’s third of the match to seal the win.

Boro were reduced to ten men when Hill leapt off the floor and into a tackle with Webb with his studs showing, in an ill-advised challenge, He was shown a straight red and will now miss two matches in two weeks time.

Clement felt that Hill had got the ball, and joked that he "used to make ten tackles like that a game and be unlucky to get a booking."

But in truth it was a dangerous tackle that, given the current situation and Eduardo’s horrific injury for Arsenal still fresh in the memory, was only ever going to be punished by a red card.

Still, if there was any lingering doubt the referee soon evened things up, giving Chris Elsgood a harsh second yellow card for tugging back Wheeler just five minutes later.

Not that the sudden rash of cards was affecting Boro’s play, and substitute Ciardini should have scored from Wheeler’s square pass. Wheeler himself probably should have capped another fine display with a goal, twice shooting wide when clean through.

Saunders almost crowned Boro’s display with a sublime effort. Playing a one-two with Wheeler he clipped a delicate shot which had MacTaggart watching helplessly as the ball came back off the post and bar.

Regardless of the missed chances it was still an excellent display by Boro, and they go into Saturday's clash at Uxbridge full of confidence.

Uxbridge’s unpredictable form in recent matches has seen them win twice, lose twice and draw once, but that has been enough for them to sneak into the final play off place.

They boast Neville Roach in attack, who formed part of Boro’s early season success, scoring nine goals in his time at Cherrywood Road. He has continued that prowess with Uxbridge, and bagged a hat-trick in Saturday’s 3-2 win at Bracknell Town.

Clement will be forced to shuffle his pack, with Doyle and Marshall likely to step in for Woozley and Evans. Ciardini will be pushing for a recall as Boro look for a win ahead of the Easter Monday derby with Fleet Town.

Clement said: "It will be tough, but it’s about how we play, and if we do the right things we should be fine."

Boro: Beazley 7, Hill 6, Oliver 7, Woozley 7, Evans 7 (Ciardini 6), Doyle 8 (Wise 7), Saunders 7, Rumbold 8, Wheeler 8, BARTLEY 8, Richardson 7 (Barima 7).

Kick off at Honeycroft is at 3pm.

First printed in: Aldershot News and Mail