Northwood’s first match under the new management of Mark Barnham proved successful, but his side needed to come back from a goal behind and it was quite a battle.

After Dave Anderson had resigned a day earlier, his assistant agreed to step into the breach for the remainder of the season, and he had to select his first side missing defensive mainstay Brad Hewitt who picked up a rib injury at Cheshunt on Saturday. Sam Sharples came into the reshuffled side with Leon Osei employed as a lone striker.

The Woods started brightly enough with Kyle Matthews trying his luck from distance but seeing his effort drift just wide and then Chris Seeby flicked a Matthews corner the wrong side of the post.
The visitors looked lively too, and they went close when a firm header from Robert Carter was well saved by Bobby Smith in the Northwood goal.

Matthews glanced a header wide after Michael Peacock picked him out with an accurate cross and then Forest goalkeeper Sam Tanner made solid saves to deny both skipper John Christian and Aaron Cato.
Northwood had shaded the game, but it was their opponents who took the lead on 38 minutes when a cross came in from the right, and Pedro Knight found himself in plenty of space to guide a header past Smith and inside the post.

The half finished on a feisty note with Des Thomas and Ryan Oliva picking up yellow cards for poor tackles while they were joined in the book by Leon Osei for his part in some posturing around the centre-circle by members of both sides.

Northwood responded well to the half-time talk and Christian went close early on after a well-worked move. The pressure told after 53 minutes as Osei saw his goalbound shot handled by Oliva. A penalty was the result and a second caution for the Waltham Forest defender saw them reduced to ten men. Matthews took responsibility for the spot-kick but made a complete hash of things by shooting straight at the diving Tanner. The ball rebound came back to the Woods penalty-taker but he sliced that too, only for the loose ball to be finally bundled over the line by the in-form Cato.

It was pretty much one-way traffic after that, with the Forest side clearly deflated by the loss of their lead and they rarely threatened. Cato cut in from the left and hit a good strike which flashed only just over the bar but the Woods were in front after 65 minutes when Cato’s well-delivered corner was neatly headed in by Osei.

The Woods introduced John Sonuga for Ryan Tackley and then Hugo Figueiredo replaced Matthews, and they continued to make the running. Some excellent footwork from Osei saw him dance in from the left and cut the ball back for Sonuga, who seemed certain to score but his shot was blocked on the line and cleared.

Tanner saved well again from Cato twice in quick succession and then produced some acrobatics to tip over a cracking drive from Christian, as he successfully stopped the Woods from adding further goals.
In the closing stages, Gilbert Nuako got a run-out after a few weeks of inactivity while serving a four-match suspension as the Woods held on to their narrow advantage.

Report by ALAN EVANS