Northwood put the previous week’s trio of heavy league defeats behind them to earn an FA Trophy replay against fellow Zamaretto Central side Burnham with a hard-working performance that will do wonders for their confidence.

There were enforced changes once again, with Ryan Tackley, Aaron Cato and Sam Sharples joining the long injury list, which still includes Scott Orphanou, Kyle Matthews and Jamie Lindsay, while Mark Burgess was suspended and Leon Osei was unavailable. Having conceded fifteen goals in the previous week, Mitch Swain was rested, with Mark Britt coming in as deputy, while the good news saw the return of Scott Raper and Danny Power from injury to take up the full-back positions. It also meant an unfamiliar role at centre-back for Anthony Page and a starting debut for 17-year-old striker Romaine Walker, up front alongside winger Rodney Hicks.

The makeshift side started brightly, and Walker was given an early chance by a good ball in from Dean Wallace, but he took too long to tee up Hicks whose shot was blocked.

Burnham’s only early effort on goal was a Ben Hudell free-kick which was struck well, but wide of the post as the Woods dominated the early play. New captain Murray Williamson played a good ball wide to Walker after 14 minutes, and the youngster skipped past his marker before knocking in a deep cross which dropped just out of reach at the far post.

But the pressure was rewarded five minutes later when John Christian robbed Lee Togwell of possession in the centre of the park and played a neat ball through to Rodney Hicks, who revelled in his new central role by slotting past goalkeeper Chay Morris to fire the Woods in front. Two minutes later it could have been 2-0 as Christian knocked in a corner which found Page unmarked at the back stick, but he headed over the bar and then a long ball picked out Walker, who shot past Paul Brett before shooting high of the target.

The home side had not got in a blow at this stage, but they were almost gifted an equaliser after 30 minutes when Britt was slow to come and collect a free-kick which had run loose and Ryan Bird got in to chip it past him, but without power and the ball was cleared. Just before the break the Woods ‘keeper also missed a cross from Yashwa Romeo and Joe Chandiram headed over an open goal.

Burnham made a couple of substitutions at half-time as they looked to get back into the tie but just five minutes later, they suffered a huge blow when Bird was shown a straight red card after clattering into Page but it left the Woods stand-in defender limping for the remainder of the game. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the Blues levelled things up on the hour when Hudell knocked in a free-kick and Romeo flicked in a header at the near post that gave Britt no chance.

It boosted the spirits of the home side, who also raised the physical level of their game and Williamson limped off after 64 minutes to be replaced by Douglas Kisuule. Burnham were still on top at this stage, and Romeo wasted a good chance when picked out in the box by substitute Darren Rockall, taking too much time and being crowded out, but generally the Woods defence held out with passion and the final ten minutes witnessed a Northwood resurgence.

Kisuule had a shot blocked after Walker had headed down from a Wallace cross, and then a good ball from Wayne Jackson put Kisuule through on goal with just Morris to beat, but his shot clipped the wrong side of the post. Power got forward for a good strike that Morris dealt with comfortably but he was at least on target, something that other strikes, from the previously accurate Hicks, and Wallace, certainly lacked.

In the end, Burnham will have been happy to have another chance to make it through to the next round when the two clubs meet again in Tuesday night’s replay.

Report by ALAN EVANS

Photos by James Brown