The Woods surpassed themselves with this emphatic victory at Wingate & Finchley, notching their biggest away win in almost seven years while avenging the FA Cup defeat at Summers Lane earlier in the season. Manager Dave Anderson brought Danny Power back into the starting line-up, replacing Aaron Cato, who was unfortunate to drop to the bench following a good display on Saturday.

With all other Division One North games called off following a day of persistent rain, the Wingate & Finchley pitch was in superb condition and a real credit to the club and groundstaff.

As on Saturday, the Woods started well by playing some neat one-touch football across the zippy surface. John Christian won a free-kick just outside the box with an attacking run in only the second minute but then curled his effort wide of the target. Chris Seeby went close with a header soon after and then a pacy foray into the box by Danny Power saw him tripped and the Woods were awarded a penalty. Gary Burrell stepped forward and although goalkeeper Gavin King managed to get a hand to it, his shot was too powerful to stop Northwood taking an eleventh minute lead.

The Woods continued to dominate without threatening until a sweeping move brought a second goal after 24 minutes. It started with Power winning a tackle to break up a Wingate attack, and the ball was then picked up by Scott Orphanou. He raced forward and then played in Burrell who quickly switched the ball onto Leon Osei, who slotted past the ‘keeper to record his first Northwood goal.

The Blues were unable to make any inroads and it was the Woods who went closest to adding to the scoreline before half-time, with Orphanou working space for a shot which lacked the power to beat King in goal, and then Michael Peacock got on the end of a corner but was unable to steer it towards goal.

Cautions for Sam Sharples and Power before the break were the only real worry for Northwood but the home side opted to change things at half-time with former Woods midfielder Rob Ursell coming on for youngster Jake Furman. It didn’t appear to have the galvanising affect that the Blues would have wanted and Northwood went close to notching a third when a Seeby cross fell to Osei on the edge of the box, but both he and Christian had their efforts blocked by some desperate defending by the home side.

The uncompromising Ahmet Rifat picked up a booking for the home side as he slid into the back of Orphanou and then Sharples was rested from his midfield duties with the introduction of Cato. It was still all Northwood, and they took the game beyond Wingate after 62 minutes when a short corner saw Cato centre and Seeby fired home from the edge of the box past an unsighted King; the defender also celebrating his first goal for the club.

Things got worse for the home side in the next ten minutes as they lost pacy striker Leon Smith to injury after a collision with Bobby Smith in goal and the Rifat was sent-off for again upending Orphanou. It was a damage-limitation exercise from then on for the Blues and they restricted the Woods to just one further goal, with Burrell picked out superbly by a long crossfield pass from Seeby and slotting home confidently to make it 4-0 on 86 minutes with his second of the game.

The skipper also had a chance for a hat-trick with a free-kick just a minute later but his curling shot was always too high to trouble King in goal. It was only in stoppage-time that the home side finally had a chance after a good run into the box by David Laird but Smith snuffed out the danger and the Woods were home, if not dry, as the rain persisted.

Report by ALAN EVANS