The Woods stormed back from a goal down to claim victory over old rivals Wingate & Finchley in this important FA Cup replay. Wingate, who started big favourites for this tie on Saturday, came to Chestnut Avenue with an unbeaten away record which stretched back to the beginning of February and were yet to concede a goal in competitive football this season, following the 0-0 draw at Summers Lane a few days earlier.

Manager Mark Barnham made changes to the Northwood side who had performed well to bring the Blues back to Chestnut Avenue, a couple of them, enforced with Kyle Matthews injured and Scott Orphanou serving a one-match ban. In came Danny Power and Aaron Cato for their first starts of the season while Dean Wallace and Sam Sharples were also rested, so midfield duo Anthony Page and Murray Williamson also saw their first action of the campaign. Wingate’s changes saw full-backs John Owinja and Paul Wright left out, replaced by Daniel Nielsen and former Wood James Bent.

It was honours even to begin with as both sides continued to sound each other out. Power had a shot blocked at one end while Leon Smith got a shot in for the visitors soon after. Leon Osei showed some silky skills on the left to get past Ahmet Rifat and drill in a cross which just evaded Page and the same player shot well wide after good work from skipper John Christian but it was Wingate who finally broke the deadlock after 21 minutes.

It was a long-ball pumped forward by Marc Henry that did the damage, as Smith just evaded offside and controlled it well, held off the challenge of John Sonuga and placed the ball wide of Mitch Swain. Suddenly a goal behind, the Woods found an extra gear and began to cause problems. Christian’s strike from a corner looped up and Williamson might have done better with his header with the Blues defence in disarray. Then Power set up Cato who jinked past two defenders before shooting wide of the target.

The pressure continued, with Josh Urquhart knocking in a mishit Christian effort back into the box but Page shot well wide. Osei was next to go close as he raced onto a ball chipped through by Power but though he lifted the ball clear of the onrushing Gavin King in goal, it was also wide of the goal.

The Woods got the reward that their play deserved just before the break as Christian knocked in a long free-kick and Osei found himself in acres of space to rise high and power a header past King.

Having pulled the scores level, they were almost behind again two minutes after the break as Smith took advantage of a defensive slip and beat Swain again only for the ball to come back off the post. Again it served to give the Woods a wake-up call, and they pushed forward dangerously once more. The pace of Cato was causing problems for the Blues defence and he burst through to shoot inches wide before Osei did likewise wide on the left and Wingate had to scramble his cut-back away for a corner.

After 64 minutes, Swain made a fine save to deny Smith after an advantage had been played following a foul on Joe O’Brien who had threaded the ball through. Somehow, the referee then decided to give the visitors another chance by letting them have the free-kick as well, but Gary Burrell fired straight at Swain with no real power.  

Josh Cooper shot well wide when in plenty of space shortly after and a Marc Henry header was then cleared off the line by Williamson as Wingate again tried to regain the lead, but the Woods still looked more threatening and they made the breakthrough after 74 minutes.

It was a fierce strike from Christian that did the damage, as King was only able to dive and beat it out with the pace of Cato getting him to the rebound first, and he drilled the ball into the net to spark great celebrations.

The visitors rolled the dice by bringing on two strikers in Lewis Jones and David Laird but it was a gamble that didn’t pay off as the Woods continued to dominate the closing stages. There were gaps in the Wingate defence and one ball through the channel saw Cato break into the box, only to be tugged back by Rifat. Christian played the captain’s role by taking the spot-kick in the absence of regular-taker Orphanou and he neatly chipped the ball past the diving King.

That two goal advantage could have been three just a minute later as Osei also got ahead of the defence and was tripped by Weatherstone for another penalty. This time King had Christian’s measure, diving to make a fine save.

It meant a nervous few final minutes as Wingate got the ball forward but Swain blocked a shot from Laird, while Rifat headed a corner well wide of the target. The Woods held on comfortably for the win and now go into another Middlesex derby in the next round, this time away to North Greenford United.

Report by ALAN EVANS