Match Report
by Robin Piper
Northwood put the disappointment of their F.A. Cup exit behind them as they returned to winning ways in the very first encounter between the two sides. There was one change to the Woods’ line-up, with Joe Cowen replacing Matt Plaskett at right-back.
Northwood enjoyed the better of the early exchanges with the lively Michael Gordon stretching the Chatham defence with a series of jinking runs.
One such run lead to Danny Murphy sending over a far post corner for Bradley Hewitt to knock back to Sean Sonner, but his close-range shot was smothered by Chatham ‘keeper James Tedder.
But it was Gordon once again who was instrumental in Northwood taking the lead on 11 minutes, his low cross being dummied by Terry Davies, allowing Sonner to sweep the ball past Tedder.
Chatham were seeing plenty of the ball as they looked to get back into the game but they were lacking a cutting edge, with Darren Smith and Dominic Elmes unable to find the target with their respective shots.
At the other end, Gordon continued to cause problems for the visitors’ defence as another teasing cross flew across the face of goal before the Woods’ winger saw his half-volley from the edge of the box collected by Tedder.
Northwood proceeded to string a succession of sweeping moves together, with Murphy, Davies and Gordon going close but the second goal continued to elude them.
And Chatham almost capitalised on Woods’ profligacy in front of goal as Dave Botterill squandered a glorious chance before the break, Mitch Swain averting the danger with a flying save before the Woods custodian was called upon to deal with a Tom Davey header.
Chatham continued to press immediately after the restart, with Ross Finn and Chris Tedder sending shots narrowly wide.
However, the visitors were grateful to James Tedder when he produced a point blank save to deny Sonner.
But Woods were struggling to regain their rhythm in a patchy second half display and they were made to pay as Chatham drew level on 69 minutes, Botterill chipping into an empty net from outside the box after Swain’s attempted clearance had been charged down.
Aryan Taj was introduced for Davies and the Northwood youngster almost had an immediate impact but his low shot was parried by James Tedder, before another goal-bound effort was blocked by defender Danny Larkin.
Abdul Yoki was replaced Ryan Tackley in the closing stages as Woods searched for the winning goal.
And the all-important strike was finally made with five minutes left on the clock. After James Tedder failed to claim Dwain Williams’ free-kick whilst under pressure from Hewitt, Gordon capped a fine match by sending a rasping shot into the roof of the net.
Dwane Williams replaced namesake Dwain as Northwood looked to protect the points, Davey’s deflected shot the only scare as the clock ticked down on Woods’ third win of the season.
Photos: James Brown
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