MATCH REPORTS 2005-06

Friendly match

 Northwood 3  Staines Town 3

 Report by Alan Evans

The Woods played out a highly entertaining friendly against Ryman Premier Division title contenders Staines Town on Saturday.

Manager Colin Payne used the game to take a good look at goalkeeper Liam Watson and defender James Shipperley, and both performed well enough.

Gavin Hart looked sharp from the start and put the Woods ahead after just seven minutes, having been put through on goal by Dean Clark.

Staines had their veteran assistant manager Craig Maskell playing just behind the front two, and he showed that he had lost none of his goalscoring prowess by levelling the scores with a neat finish after twenty minutes.

But the Woods hit back six minutes later when a free-kick was met by Shipperley's excellent header and when the ball came back off the post, Peter Dean swept home the loose ball.

Still Staines battled back before half-time, with recent signing from Chesham Gary Sippetts heading home to make it 2-2.

Alistair Heselton replaced Dean Clark up front for the second half and soon afterwards, the central midfield area was changed, with Ian Savage and Wayne Carter replacing Chris Gell and Luke Garrard.

Within a few minutes, the Woods were back in front for a third time. Dean worked his way through on goal only to be pulled down by Fiston Manuella, playing in an unfamiliar centre-back position. A spot-kick was the result and Shayne Demetrious stepped up to put away the penalty - his first goal since mid-August.

Still the Swans were not to be defeated and Maskell bagged his second goal with a somewhat lucky, deflected shot.

Towards the end, it was Staines who should have nicked a win. Serbian triallist Vladmir Petkovic missing an open goal, and there was another chance when two shots came back off the post in swift succession.

All in all, it was a good run out for the Woods with the only down side being an injury picked up by Leigh Harrington.