Saturday 26th February 1977
IT’S ELLIS – AND WOODS – AGAIN
HARROW ST MARY’S 0 NORTHWOOD 4
Northwood extended their unbeaten run on Saturday at the expense of old adversaries Harrow St. Mary’s. And while their second half display would have shattered most Middlesex League sides, they owed a great deal to the irrepressible Martin Ellis, who popped up with two more goals.
Their confident victory now stretches Northwood's unbeaten run to almost four months and yet they are still not clear of the pack chasing the Middlesex League title.
Northwood made a hesitant start but Merison and O'Donnell were in fine form in defence and Heslop gave his usual solid performance at full-back. Geoff Mills made a welcome and successful return to first team duty, and it was Mills to the rescue with a goal-line clearance with Currell stranded.
Northwood had a slight edge in midfield thanks to the fine work of Harvey and Tidd, plus Gould, who continues to revel in his new role.
Yet again it was up front where Northwood had the telling edge and when Ellis was dragged down in the area, Gould opened the goal-gates from the penalty spot.
Northwood relaxed and started to play football, but they couldn't add to their goal tally until the second half, when they took complete control. They went 2-0 up five minutes after the restart. Livingstone and Cooper combined well with a series of headers, Ellis nudged the ball on and Livingstone swept in a magnificent volley.
The Woods were now in top gear. The football flowed from the back and the goals just had to come. The third was a picture book effort. O'Donnell, up for a corner, made a fine run to the near post to deflect the ball beyond the static home defence. Ellis, with his back to goal, jack-knifed into the air to send an amazing scissors kick into the roof of the net.
It was mostly one-way traffic now, and Northwood looked likely to score at any time. Gould was prominent in the build-ups and Heslop made some determined runs down the right.
A series of six quick passes was the prelude to the fourth goal. The ball was quickly moved around, and when the final thrust was made into the Harrow area, Ellis showed his venom by appearing from nowhere to crack in his 30th goal of the season.
Northwood: L. Currell, N. Heslop, A. Merison, M. O’Donnell, G. Mills, R. Tidd, I. Harvey. B. Gould, M. Ellis, G. Cooper, R. Livingstone. Sub. P. Coburn.
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