Northwood came from behind as they progressed to the first qualifying round of the F.A. Cup after making heavy weather of overcoming Spartan South Midlands outfit St. Margaretsbury. There was one change to the side which trounced Ware in midweek, Danny Power replacing the unavailable Mark Burgess in the Northwood defence.

In the first encounter between the two clubs, St Margaretsbury made the perfect start by taking the lead on six minutes when Mark Draper scrambled the ball home after Northwood failed to deal with a free-kick into the box. Woods responded well to the setback, and they created a succession of chances, with Anthony Page, Hugo Figueiredo and Gary Burrell all going close.

Northwood maintained the pressure on the St Margaretsbury defence, but they found goalkeeper James Sturgeon in fine form as he saved well from Burrell, Gary Meakin and Page. The one-way traffic continued and Garry Senior had an opportunity but was off-target with his header from Burrell’s in-swinging corner.

However, Senior made no mistake as he capped a flowing move with a stooping header from Figueiredo’s cross to draw Northwood level on 35 minutes. Woods continued to pin St Margaretsbury back, but Sturgeon was on hand to deny both Meakin and Senior whilst stand-in skipper Chris Seeby and John Christian were wide of the mark with speculative efforts from outside the box.

Northwood had an opportunity early in the second half when they were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box, but they were unable to capitalise as Christian’s shot flew over the crossbar. Woods stuck to their task, keeping good possession of the ball and probing for the opening.

And the opportunity arrived via a good move down the left flank as Burrell sent over an inviting cross for Senior to head his second goal of the afternoon and put Northwood ahead on 54 minutes. Woods went looking for another goal to put the game beyond St Margaretsbury and Power’s overhead kick dropped narrowly wide whilst Sturgeon continued to impress with a finger-tip save to divert Meakin’s free-kick over the bar.

In a rare moment of attacking cohesion, the visitors had a chance to draw level, but Draper was unable to make the most of a free-header opportunity whilst at the other end, Burrell and Senior combined well again, but Sturgeon was on hand to collect the header.

Figueiredo made way for Kyle Matthews with twenty minutes left on the clock, but sadly the striker’s comeback from injury only lasted a matter of minutes as he felt his damaged hamstring once again, Patrick Lawrence given his Woods’ debut as his replacement. In the meantime, the visitors were showing signs of improvement as they had a couple of half-chances, Northwood switching to a flat back four to counter the renewed threat.

At the other end, Rob Ursell forced Sturgeon to turn a shot around the post before the Woods’ playmaker threaded a delightful ball through to Meakin, but the latter was unable to apply the finish. However, the tie was finally but to bed as Northwood scored their third of the afternoon, Lawrence popping up with a debut goal in the final minute to secure Woods’ safe passage to the next round and a home tie against Wingate & Finchley.

Report by ROBIN PIPER

Photos by James Brown