Match Report
by Robin Piper
Northwood
recovered from the disappointment of the home defeat to Concord to
register a useful away point with Eugene Ofori scoring a brace to
register his first goals for the club.
There were a
number of changes to the Woods line-up as manager Dave Anderson
opted for a 3-4-3 formation. Gary Senior made a promising Northwood
debut in attack following his move from North Greenford United,
whilst there was a return to the starting line-up for Rob Ursell and
Gary Burrell. Lee Holland was deemed unfit after having several
stitches inserted in his head wound, and Anthony Page was missing
after failing to recover from a dead leg.
Woods had to
weather some early Leyton pressure, with Shaun Lee and Andrew Thomas
both failing to capitalise on some slack Northwood marking.
However, it was
Woods who took the lead on 10 minutes when Ofori flicked a header
beyond Leyton goalkeeper Elliott Justham as the latter failed to
collect Rob Ursell’s free-kick into the box.
Northwood
maintained the pressure on the hosts with Dwain Williams seeing his
free-kick deflected for a corner, whilst Senior went close with a
header from Ursell’s cross.
Leyton were
seeing a fair share of the ball and Thomas went close with a long
range shot which flew narrowly over the crossbar.
Leyton were
indebted to Justham as he prevented a second Northwood goal as he
used all of his considerable reach to claw away Ryan Tackley’s
free-kick, which was heading into the top corner.
However, Woods
had to go into the half-time break on level terms after they
conceded on 42 minutes, Junior Luke latching onto Justham’s booming
clearance up-field to despatch an unstoppable first time shot past
Mitch Swain.
Things got
worse for Northwood three minutes into the second half as the
defence switched off after a quickly taken free-kick, allowing Phil
Kane to slot the ball home to give Leyton the lead.
Woods almost
fell further behind but they survived a goalmouth scramble as Luke
and Thomas had close-range shots blocked by Swain and his defence.
Northwood
regrouped, and they began to force Leyton on the back foot, with
Ofori dragging a shot wide before Williams saw his effort from the
edge of the box tipped over the crossbar by Justham.
Woods continued
to press, and Burrell was the next to be denied as his shot was
cleared off the line by Aron Freeman.
Hugo Figueiredo
was introduced on the hour-mark with Williams making way, and the
substitute was immediately involved as he fed Senior, whose shot
flew the wrong side of the upright as he was pressurised by the
back-tracking Des Thomas.
Northwood’s
impressive second half display warranted an equaliser, and it duly
arrived on 66 minutes when Ursell played in Ofori, who finished
emphatically with a fierce shot across Justham and into the bottom
corner of the net.
Danny Power
replaced Burrell on 72 minutes as Woods looked for the winning goal
and it almost arrived as Ofori met Figueiredo’s pinpoint cross, but
the striker’s header crashed off the underside of the crossbar and
was bundled clear by the Leyton defence.
That was the
last chance of the evening with both defences holding the upper-hand
for the remainder of the play, but Woods can be pleased with a much
improved performance which bodes well for the trip to Brentwood on
Saturday.
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