Match Report
by Robin Piper

Northwood returned to winning ways as they merited a hard-earned win on a wet and windy night at Parkfield.

There was an enforced change to the Woods line-up as Bradley Hewitt missed out due to his ongoing hamstring problem, but Colin Payne was able to call on the services of captain Adam Theo following the completion of his two match suspension. Dwane Williams was preferred to namesake Dwain in midfield, whilst there was a first start for new signing Phil Turner at the expense of striker Adrian Abramian.

And Turner made the perfect start to his Woods career when he opened the scoring on nine minutes, latching onto James Fisher’s through ball before lobbing the stranded Ashlee Jones in the Potters Bar goal.

Both sides were struggling to play their football in the tricky conditions but there was plenty of endeavour with Duane Jackman heading narrowly wide for the hosts, whilst Turner sent a volley wide of the upright after good work from Michael Gordon and Abdul Yoki.

Northwood had to rearrange their defence on 33 minutes as Danny Murphy’s injury woes continued, Lee Holland entering the fray as substitute, James Fisher moving into the centre with Ryan Tackley moving to left-back.

Woods looked to regain their momentum but they hadn’t reckoned on a rare mistake from goalkeeper Mitch Swain as he spilled a header from Sam Adejokun, the ball falling to Darryl Wilson for a simple equaliser on 39 minutes.

The hosts had chances to take the lead early in the second-half, Gary Wright blazing wide from a good position whilst Swain was alert to Ryan Barnard’s flicked header.

Having survived the early pressure, Woods proceeded to up their game with Yoki and Tackley forcing ‘keeper Jones into a couple of saves.

But the Potters Bar custodian was at fault as he allowed Dwane Williams’ shot to slip from his grasp enabling Northwood to regain the lead on 58 minutes.

Woods looked to put the game beyond their hosts but they were making hard work of it as they squandered a number of chances. Jerome Hall, Turner and Williams all went close for Northwood whilst Tackley rattled the crossbar with a header from Yoki’s pinpoint cross.

Abramian replaced Turner for the closing stages but all the action was in the Woods’ goalmouth as Sean Bonnett-Johnson missed a glaring chance to equalise, whilst  fellow substitute Clement Oragbade was foiled by a flying save from Swain.

Danny Brown was introduced for Hall as the game moved into stoppage time and Northwood were able to breathe a sigh of relief as the whistle blew on a hard fought victory.