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The Woods ended their Capital League campaign
with a narrow but comfortable 1-0 victory over Croydon Athletic in an
entertaining game full of attacking football.
There was a welcome run-out for striker Adrian
Abramian, out with an ankle problem for the past ten weeks, and while
lacking fitness, he showed some great touches in his forty-five minute
spell. Dwain Williams continued his comeback following injury by running the
central midfield area alongside Danny Brown, while young 16-year-old
defender Elliott Gibbs made a excellent impression.
After a slow start, Abramian almost took
advantage of a mistake from visiting 'keeper Manny Djornor on 14 minutes,
getting his head to the loose ball but steering it wide of the goal. Six
minutes later Brown recorded the first shot on target but Djornor was equal
to it and was the start of a wave of attacks from Northwood as they began to
dominate.
The speedy Andrew Harewood broke through but
saw his shot blocked by the oncoming keeper and then Harewood played in
Brown but his shot was blocked for a corner. Then Abramian showed a great
touch and turn to play Harewood in again but his first-time strike was just
over the bar.
On the half-hour, Prince Toku showed his marker
a clean pair of heels over on the left flank and knocked in a superb cross,
which was met by Brown racing in but his bullet header was just too high.
Two minutes later a long-range strike from
Williams took a deflection and Djornor was almost caught out, changing
direction to just push the ball away. Harewood was in on the loose ball and
chipped it to the far post but the ball was cleared.
After 37 minutes, Williams tried his luck
again, this time from a free-kick some twenty-five yards out. He hit it
well, beat Djornor in goal and when the ball crashed back off the crossbar,
it hit the unlucky 'keeper and bounced over the line.
Brown linked with Abramian to send a shot wide
soon after but the half finished with Croydon recording their first shot at
goal, Woods keeper Simon Dean diving low to keep out a Arafat Kubuye strike.
Both sides made early second half
substitutions, with Mark Barnham trying out three new players in Alec
Gediking, Jack Brown and Liam Sonner. All three did well but it was Jack
Brown who was most involved in the attacking moves, curling one shot just
wide and then sending over a cross which just eluded Laurie Walters.
The visitors kept battling away and rarely
threatened but they were guilty of one glaring miss which should have seen
them level. After 72 minutes, substitute Gabriel Adesina broke through on
goal but with just Dean to beat, he blazed over the bar.
The victory kept the Woods in fourth place in
the table, though Dulwich Hamlet are likely to overhaul them by picking up
enough points from their final two games, both at home. Their home form was
the best in the division, with just one defeat in eight games but it was on
their travels that they failed to match the leading sides, winning just
twice from the eight away games.
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