Marlow United fell to defeat in the final of the Berks and Bucks Trophy losing 3-1 to Saxton Rovers, suffering defeat for the second year running in the final.

The game was again played at Bracknell Town's Larges Lane Stadium and this time last year United were licking their wounds having lost a final they felt apart from two lapses they should have won.

On this occasion there can be no regrets as on the day they simply didn't perform and were beaten by the better team, a team that showed more determination and a will to win.

United started brightly forcing Saxton on the back foot and opened the scoring in the second minute as a corner was headed back across the goal by Alan Mckie with James Hardie's shot causing havoc in the six yard box and in the resultant scramble Liam Bushey bundled the ball over the line from close range.

Buoyed by this United dominated the opening 15 minutes of the game but despite carving out some promising openings they failed to test the Saxton keeper with some wayward shooting.

Saxton though began to establish themselves after the shock of the early goal and their busy midfield were now calling the tune as they applied pressure in the Marlow half.

A number of corners were successfully defended by the United defence and keeper Akerman was down smartly to push the ball away from a free kick on 20 minutes.

A corner to Saxton saw the United goal threatened as a close range header sailed narrowly past the post.

The equaliser arrived on 30 minutes following yet another corner which was punched out by Akerman, the ball not being cleared it was lashed back into the net from the edge of the area.

Stung by this Marlow retaliated with a three man move seeing a shot from Bushey saved and with the half running out Jake Braim picked out Nicol in the box and the forward failed to get his head to the loose ball and as it dropped he back heeled a shot from close range only to see the keeper tip the ball away for a corner.

The second half began with Saxton dominating the opening proceedings with a shot from Homes being the only threat from United.

Saxton hit the post from a corner as they threatened to sweep United away such was their early dominance and sure enough they took the lead from yet another corner on 55 minutes with United not clearing their line and a close range effort was parried over the line by Akerman as it looked like he had gathered the ball.

Once ahead Saxton sat back with Marlow gaining more possession but in truth it was a disjointed display by the Blues with to many players not performing to their potential.

They constantly gave the ball away choosing the wrong option against opposition who were prepared to give their all to raise the trophy whereas a number of the United team looked as if they were ready to accept defeat.

The best chance of an equaliser arrived on the hour as cross from Bushey was picked up by Sutherland, his goal bound shot being blocked with Thomas mishitting the loose ball.

Nicol saw a decent effort saved by the keeper and a long throw caused some panic in the Rovers defence with the keeper rescuing them by clearing off the line.

United rang the changes with Trumpet, Catalin and Cuva replacing Nicol, Sutherland and Bushay as the half wore on but it made little difference with Rovers settling any arguments adding a third from yet another corner on 80 minutes as Akerman failed to make contact with the ball which was headed home for the third.

With that the game was won, only a booking for Homes for persistent fouling adding the Marlow's woes.

It was a disappointing display from Marlow who with a few exceptions performed well below the standards they have set in the past and the loss of players of the calibre of Flint and Britnell did not help.

Congratulations though to Rovers who thoroughly deserved their success on the day with a team performance that United couldn't handle.

Manager Matt Letts now has the unenviable job off raising moral to complete a further dozen or more games in the next month.