Match Report
by Robin Piper
Northwood moved to the top of the table after a well deserved win at
Cheshunt, leaving them as one of only two sides with a 100% record.
Rob Bullivant regained the ‘keepers jersey from Scott Ward, while
the rest of the starting line-up was unchanged from Saturday’s
opening day success.
Woods started brightly with some quick, incisive football, Dean
Clark creating a couple of openings, before he saw his shot fly wide
of the upright after some neat play between Lee Tunnell and Gavin
Hart.
At
the other end, Anthony Fenton’s free-kick deflected narrowly wide
whilst Dewayne Clark was off target with a long range effort.
Northwood continued to carry the greater threat with their neat,
inventive football, Clark and Dean both being denied by Cheshunt
‘keeper Martin Peat.
However, Peat was helpless to prevent Woods from taking a deserved
lead on 22 minutes, Clark skilfully using the outside of his boot to
curl a delightful shot into the bottom corner of the net following
Dean’s neat lay-off.
Northwood continued to threaten, Hart going close with a fierce
drive before Tunnell was inches wide with a cheeky chip from 25
yards after Peat was left stranded out of his goal.
The hosts were being restricted to long-range efforts as Woods
maintained their control of the game. However, there was a scare on
the stroke of half-time following an error from the otherwise
impeccable Mark Dennison, Dewayne Clark heading past Bullivant but
wide of the goal.
Cheshunt came out strongly after the break in search of an
equaliser. And the dangerous Clark had an early opportunity to
restore parity when clean through, but Bullivant was quickly off his
line to smother his shot.
Northwood remained on the back foot as Dean Fenton shot wide of the
target before the same player sent a free header wide of the
upright.
But Woods’ back line was dealing well with the danger and after
soaking up a period of pressure they delivered the sucker punch.
Clark was the provider with a pin point free-kick into the box,
skipper Wayne Carter beating the advancing Peat with a rare headed
goal to extend Northwood’s lead in the 57th minute.
There were further speculative efforts at both ends before Cheshunt
made a double substitution on 72 minutes in attempt to get back into
the match.
And the changes seemed to have the desired effect, Bullivant having
to deal with shots from Fenton and substitute Kerem Bashkal.
But Bullivant was finally beaten with four minutes left on the
clock, substitute Danny Jones’ shot deflecting beyond the Northwood
keeper.
Kyle Matthews and Shane O’Neill were introduced for Tunnell and
Clark for the final minutes and Woods had some more defending to do,
Ricky Alexander, who looked solid in the left-back birth, deflecting
a Bashkal shot away to safety.
There was still time for James Shipperley to enter the fray in place
of Gavin Hart, but Woods had done enough, capping an excellent first
week of the season and setting them up nicely for a trip to League
favourites Bath City on Saturday. |
