Title-favourites Lowestoft Town enhanced their credentials with this hard-fought victory at Northwood, who seem to be saving their best performances for the FA Trophy competition at present. There was only one change to the side who had won in midweek at Harlow Town and that saw a return to the front-line for Scott Orphanou after injury, replacing the unlucky Aaron Cato.

On a heavy surface at Chestnut Avenue and with the rain already falling, the Woods made a bright start to the game at a fast pace. After just three minutes Eugene Ofori, fresh from his midweek hat-trick, latched onto a loose ball from Jamie Godbold and fired in a low shot which goalkeeper Andy Reynolds only just kept out, pushing the ball wide for a corner.

Four minutes later another good build-up saw Orphanou set-up John Christian for a strike from 20 yards but he was unable to keep the ball down and it sailed high and wide of the goal.
All this hard work was undone on 11 minutes when the visitors were gifted the lead. Adam Smith sent over a free-kick from the right which Aaron  Bufton let spin out of his grasp and central defender Matthew Halliday had the easy task of heading home unmarked from just a few feet.

Against a side that had only conceded seven goals all season in the league, this looked a suicidal mistake, and Lowestoft picked up the pace to dominate for much of the remainder of the half. The Woods defence was stretched by long diagonal balls played from midfield but they kept solid on the whole. Another Smith free-kick was dealt with better by Bufton, pushing the ball away and both Godbold and Nolan were unable to hit the target from good positions.

After 39 minutes, the Woods finally managed to counter with Sam Sharples getting a shot in which Reynolds saved well under pressure and three minutes later, a swift one-two with Anton Lewis got Ofori in on goal but he sliced his hooked his shot wide of the goal.

That miss was to prove very costly as within seconds, and, in almost the last action of the first-half, Andrew Fisk slipped a good ball through to an offside-looking Gary McGee and he made no mistake from close-range.

With the rain getting heavier after the break, conditions became even worse but both sides continued to slog it out in midfield. Anton Lewis did well to get past Neil Plaskett after 54 minutes but put his shot into the side-netting while Bufton made a couple of good stops to deny Greg Crane and Fisk.
After 59 minutes, Lowestoft put the game beyond the reach of Northwood when McGee battled through the middle with Michael Peacock and managed to get his toe to the ball first and steered it past the oncoming Bufton.

A flashpoint on 67 minutes changed the pattern of the game. Lewis and Fisk battled for a through-ball with Lewis penalised for a short-pull but Fisk reacted by flicking a back-handed slap at his opponents and promptly was flashed a red-card.

Within five minutes it was the turn of Reynolds to make a slip-up in goal as he failed to hold a cross from the right and Ofori pounced to bundle the ball over the line.

Lowestoft made substitutions which enabled them to sit back and defend their two-goal lead, taking off both strikers and this allowed Northwood plenty of possession.

Hugo Figueiredo went closest to beating Reynolds as he curled in a shot which the ‘keeper saw late but pushed across goal and wide after 85 minutes but there was little other goalmouth action to fear for the new leaders of the division.

Report by ALAN EVANS

Photos by James Brown