This was a clash of two sides almost totally devoid of any recent good form, with both teams having gone nine games without a win, the Adders with the slightly worse record having lost eight of those matches.

Mark Barnham was let down by a number of players declaring themselves unavailable for the long trip to Warwickshire, taking the already long list of absentees to fifteen. It meant a call-up for many of the club’s Suburban League team, and starting debuts for Samuel Ntim-Addae and Andrew Murphy,  while the most experienced player in the side was centre-half John Sonuga, veteran of over thirty matches.

There was an even start to the match which began with a flurry of bookings for Dean Wallace for the Woods plus Ryan Scott and Simeon Smith for the home side after a skirmish in the middle of the park. It was Northwood who recorded the first effort on goal when Romaine Walker knocked in a cross and Jamie Lindsay headed just over the bar.

But Atherstone were soon getting to grips with the midfield and after Mark Britt had pushed a long-range effort from Tom Weale wide of the post, the resulting corner shot through low in the box and Tom Guiney turned the ball in for an easy finish.

Clearly up against it, the Woods battled hard for the remainder of the half with Sonuga playing a starring role at the back but they were unable to create much going forward and then conceded a second goal seconds before the break as a ball from the right picked out Simeon Smith and he slotted home.

There seemed little prospect of a comeback, but the Woods returned to the pitch a little stirred and began brightly. After 53 minutes, Wayne Jackson split the defence with a good through-ball which found Douglas Kisuule in on goal but though he beat goalkeeper Courtney Belford, he rolled the ball wide of the post.

Just a minute later, Kisuule was put through again but this time his strike was blocked by the burly ‘keeper, the ball rebounding to Walker who made room for a shot which Belford this time palmed out. Walker was onto the loose ball in a flash but pulled his follow-up shot wide of the target.

Having missed a couple of golden opportunities to reduce the arrears, the Woods retreated back again and Nathan Waite forced Britt into a good stop with a long-range strike that bobbled in front of him. Timi Salako came on for Ntim-Addae and after Murphy was replaced by Dave Hewinson, Atherstone were awarded a penalty when Weale was brought down. It was Weale who stepped up to take the spot-kick but Britt dived to his right to keep it out and pull off a fine save.

Again the Woods rallied briefly with Jackson seeing a free-kick comfortably held high above his head by Belford and then a run from Salako led to Walker’s strike being saved by the ‘keeper.
That was the last effort, though, for a Northwood side that finally ran out of steam in the final ten minutes. The Adders notched a third after 84 minutes when Lindsay lost out to Josh Ruff, whose cross was calmly despatched by Smith, and the tall striker then completed his hat-trick in the final minute. This time he raced on to a through-ball from Jamie Purslow and neatly chipped the ball over Britt to make the final scoreline a slightly flattering 4-0.

Report by ALAN EVANS

Photos by James Brown