DEREK Sweetman will stake his claim for the Marlow manager's job tonight when he leads the Blues out for their Associate Members Cup Final at home to Hemel Hempstead.

Sweetman has landed the job in a caretaker role following the resignation of his great mate Graham Pritchard from the hotseat.

Sweetman has been Pritchard's assistant for the last three years and now he is out to show he can step up to the big job.

He proved himself a capable deputy when Pritchard took a long time out following the death of his wife and now he is happy to take command again as Pritchard still continues to struggle to come to terms with the tragedy.

Sweetman has the ideal chance to impress tonight as Marlow start the season with an instant chance of silverware.

Tonight's cup final was held over from last season when the weather bit into the campaign.

Sweetman won't be able to select either of Marlow's summer signings Jamie Charles or Gary Wiltshire.

They are both ruled out because they played for Flackwell Heath in the early rounds last season and are therefore cup-tied for the final.

But he still appears to have more players at his disposal than Hemel. Hemel have been busy in the transfer market this summer but under the competition rules they won't be able to field any of their new signings if they turned out for another club in the earlier rounds last season.

Sweetman has already told the Marlow board that he wants the job on a full-time basis but the Oak Tree Road outfit will keep him sweating putting him under extra pressure to win silverware tonight.

A board meeting is planned at Oak Tree Road for Thursday and that is when Marlow's five-man committee will decide the way forward.

Chairman Terry Staines who reluctantly agreed to accept Pritchard's resignation said: "Graham feels that at this moment in time he's unable to make the commitment to do the job and although it's close to the start of the season it would be worse to get into the season and then find that out.

"At this moment in time his decision is in the best interests of both sides. At some stage in the future though I would hope he might come back.

"I've asked Derek Sweetman to step in and he has and we will have a board meeting this week to discuss the situation.

"He's said that he would like to be considered for the position. We know all about him and his qualities and how well he's respected by the players.

Chesham United are holding a fans forum in the Chess Suite on Thursday night.

Supporters of the Ryman Premier Division outfit are now being invited to e-mail their question in advance via the United website at www.cheshamunitedfc.co.uk.

Boss Bob Dowie and chairman Tony O'Driscoll will be on hand to answer the questions from 8pm.

Last Saturday, United completed their pre-season programme with a 2-1 win over Luton Town.

The Hatters sent a much-weakened squad over to The Meadow with Joe Kinnear's first team squad all on duty for the Town in their 2-0 opening-day win at Carlisle United.