Chipstead Res. 2  Northwood Res. 2

Saturday 20th August 2011

Northwood Res.		Suburban League High Road, Chipstead
Derek Lewis	1	Kick Off
Reece Fallon	2	3.00 p.m.
Michael Williams	3	H/T
Dominic Franklin	4	2-1
Harry Wright	5	Scorers
Adam Doe	6	Northwood
Julian Smith	7	O'Malley, Barker
Ryan Phillips	8
Shane Brown	9
Glen O’Malley	10
Charlie Barker	11
Nathan Williams (8)	12
Jim Froud (9)	14
Jordan Douglas (11)	15
-	16
Max Easton (gk)	17

We had a Northwood moment on Saturday due to late withdrawals the Woods second string found themselves with a completely different line-up than was planned, still it was the first competitive game it was expected. What was not forseen was the traffic on the M25, which was horrendous .

The Woods had to contend with both first choice centre halves being unavailable on Saturday morning plus Seldyn Grant being taken ill. But Michael Williams – who only played in that position for the first time in Monday’s friendly – excelled, backed up by skipper for the day Dominic, who after a shaky start, battled throughout. Del Lewis made some great saves, and his talking from the back was a lesson to all the youngsters: Max Easton take note.

The game started with Chipstead on the offensive, and as mentioned a shaky start from the Woods allowed a cross, which although Del Lewis got a hand to the ball, it went in to give the hosts an very early lead. But to their credit, the young Woods side battled back hard, and Julian Smith was frightening Chipstead with his pace and competitiveness. Shane Brown and Adam Doe switched sides, and straight away Woods found themselves with outlets. After a fine move, new signing Charlie Barker equalised.

The Woods were now on top, and a vigilant  linesman plus ill-timed runs were stopping the Woods from taking the lead. However, Northwood took the lead at last through Glen O’Malley, and it was well deserved. Some more chances came the Woods way, but the with Chipstead goalie performing heroics at his end, whilst Del was playing just as well at the Woods end. A good game with a good attitude from both sides went to half time with the score at 1-2.

Shortly after the break Ryan Phillips took a bad knock, and although he wanted to battle on, it’s a long season and there is plenty of time, so Nathan Williams replaced him, quickly followed by Jim Froud replacing Shane Brown, who is still very young. Nathan went wide and Jim went central: it was Jim’s first game since a knee operation three months ago. The new line-up was taking a time to settle, and with the Woods failing to clear, Chipstead equalised.

The Woods were now under the cosh and relying on breakaways, and from these the Woods were only kept out by good goalkeeping and our mate, the lino! However, most of the time he was right, as Glen O’Malley slightly mistimed the run, but some decisions could have gone either way. The game was finely balanced and both sides wanted to win, however it was not be, although only a great save by Del Lewis saved the point for the Woods at the death. All officials and both sides seemed to have enjoyed the game, and the atmosphere was very good natured. Michael Williams and Del Lewis just shaded the Man of the Match,  but it was another learning curve for the youngsters.        

Report: GEOFF FOSTER