Match Report
by Alan Evans
Cash-strapped
Northwood came from behind twice to earn their first home points since
the opening day of the season.
With Yiadom
Yeboah and Andy Cook drafted in from Hampton & Richmond Borough on
loan, the Woods looked more solid and physically stronger in important
areas.
After just five
minutes Lee Tunnell laid off a Cook ball to Dean Clark and his
left-foot strike was well saved by goalkeeper Ian Pledger.
Stamford were
gifted the lead just seven minutes later. Both Perry Norman and Danny
Murphy appeared to be going for the same high ball but it was Norman
who connected, only to direct it straight into the path of Gareth
Pritchard, who looped his header over the stranded Rob Bullivant in
goal.
The Woods
goalkeeper made a fine diving save to deny Pritchard a possible second
and Rob Greetham had a shot cleared off the line by Peter Dean as the
visitors continued to press.
Greetham seemed
lucky to stay on the pitch when he ran thirty yards to confront, and
seemingly throw a punch at Mark Nicholls soon after, yet escaped
censure despite being directly in front of the assistant referee.
Northwood needed
to pick up their game in the second-half but just seven minutes after
the restart, the Daniels went further ahead.
It couldn't have
been a softer goal, with Martin Wormall adding the deftest of touches
to a chip forward from Luke Kennedy, but it was enough to steer it
past Bullivant and in off the post.
At this stage a
recovery seemed unlikely but changes were made with Danny Julienne
replacing the injured Dean Powles, made skippper in the absence of
Wayne Carter, also out hurt, and the Woods stormed back.
Tunnell fired
just wide after Pledger had made a good save from David Warner's drive
and then Julienne knocked in a cross to the far post which Clark
controlled and then fired past the 'keeper.
After 72 minutes
Clark turned provider. Dean did well to win the ball in midfield and
played it to Clark in the centre. He played a deep cross into the box
where Dean has raced into a good position and, after he steered his
shot against the post, it was Tunnell who reacted quickest to slot
home the rebound.
The Woods were
now in the ascendency but just three minutes later that changed again
with a yet another bizarre refereeing decision. Stamford's Greetham
got involved yet again, this time with Tunnell and was seen by most in
the crowd, including the assistant referee who flagged for it,
throwing an arm out at the Woods striker. It seemed a certain red-card
for the errant defender and so it proved, but not before the Referee
had issued the same card to Tunnell. It seemed an incredible decision
to the watching crowd and the explanation afterwards was that the man
in black had been the most observant in the whole ground and had
spotted Tunnell throw back his head in an agressive manner before
being clouted back. Sadly, the Sky cameras filming the game were
unable to prove or deny such a tale as fact or fantasy.
Whatever, the
rights or wrongs, Stamford seized the initiative and with ten minutes
to go a cross from Robbie Harris found substitute Stuart Wilson
unmarked and he fired the Daniels back in front.
But, just a
minute later, a defence-splitting pass from Mark Nicholls put Julienne
into the box where he was felled by Wilson – from hero to villain for
the Stamford scorer. Clark stepped up to add his second goal of the
game from the penalty-spot and make it 3-3.
Both sides had
chances to win the game as it dragged on into eight minutes of
stoppage-time. Stamford had a header which sailed over the bar, while
both Julienne and Danny Murphy sent crosses into the danger-zone for
the Woods. The final one from Julienne seemed to pick out substitute
Kyle Matthews but he missed the chance for glory as he failed to
connect.
PHOTO GALLERY (Click thumbnail to enlarge)
Photos: James Brown |
