Hanworth Villa 2 Northwood 5
Tuesday 23rd November 2021
| NORTHWOOD | |||
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| 1 | Daniel Purdue | ||
| 2 | Matt Surmon | ||
| 3 | Andy Lomas © | ||
| 4 | Carl Stewart | ||
| 5 | Tommy Boxer | ||
| 6 | James Gurteen | ||
| 7 | Ryan Young | ||
| 8 | Teddy Stacey (59m) | ||
| 9 | Micah Jackson  |
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| 10 | Matteo Esposito (77m) | ||
| 11 | Joakim Ehui (67m) | ||
| Substitutes | |||
| 12 | Lewis Batten | ||
| 14 | Keagan Cole | ||
| 15 | Aaron Petch (67m) | ||
| 16 | Yiannis Constantinou (59m) | ||
| 17 | Tecane Shrowder (77m) | ||
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The Woods followed up Saturday’s League win with a fairly comfortable victory in the Middlesex Charity Cup on Tuesday night, bagging five goals alongside a dominant performance.
The home side, clearly concentrating on their promotion challenge in the Combined Counties League this season after their unbeaten start, rested many of their usual starting squad and the Woods took full advantage by being on the front foot from the start.
The Woods had to do without Saturday’s goal hero Sydney Ibie, suspended for three County Cup games after a red card in a Herts Senior Cup game last month, while Keagan Cole rested a niggle. In came Matteo Esposito and Joakim Ehui while Micah Jackson was moved into the central striker’s position.
Teddy Stacey went close after just six minutes when latching onto a defensive mistake but he chipped the ball wide of the far post. Just five minutes later, Esposito made inroads from the right and cut the ball back for Jackson who blasted a shot into the top corner for a fine finish and his first for the club.
The Woods notched a second goal within two minutes. This time it was Ryan Young with the good approach work. He found Ehui in front of goal and his mishit shot fell kindly to Stacey who tapped home for his first Northwood goal.
Villa were struggling to get a foothold in the game as the Woods defence looked solid but there were no significant efforts on goal until the 36th minute when Jackson showed excellent skills to get past his marker and then score his second of the game with a low strike that gave goalkeeper Alex Brown no chance.
It was almost a fourth two minutes later as Stacey beat his man on the left and shot powerfully towards goal but Brown did well to get a touch onto the bar and the ball was cleared. Totally against the run of play, the Villains 
then pulled a goal back after 40 minutes as a rare switch off allowed Jordan Ellis to cut in from the left and even though he scuffed his shot, it was enough to wrongfoot Carl Stewart on the line who was unable to clear as the ball trickled in.
Stacey, with a quickly taken direct free-kick, and then Ehui both saw efforts just clear the bar as the Woods maintained their 3-1 lead into the break.
Jackson missed out on a great chance for a hat-trick after 52 minutes when a great ball from skipper Andy Lomas put him through on goal. He skipped past the ‘keeper but with just a defender to avoid, he skied his shot.
Villa started to rally after this with Daniel Purdue saving from Ellis and just after the home side made a double substitution which brought on two more experienced players, they did narrow the deficit as Ben Merson headed home a deep cross on 66 minutes.
Yiannis Constantinou had already replaced Stacey and then Ehui and Esposito were substituted for Aaron Petch and Tecane Shrowder and it was enough to see the Woods back in control. After 81 minutes a young corner was knocked back across by James Gurteen and fellow centre-back Tommy Boxer poked the ball home from six yards.
Villa had a player sin-binned on 84 minutes – a rule being trialled in the Charity Cup this season – leaving them with ten men for the rest of the game and Petch forced Brown into a fine save soon after but the it was just into stoppage-time that the Woods hit a fifth. Young was the provider again, dancing in from the right and finding Constantinou who hooked a shot into the bottom corner for his first Woods goal.
Report by ALAN EVANS Photos by CHRIS BENN are here
