Northwood		Pre-season friendly The Meadow, Chesham	Chesham United
Mitch Swain	1	Kick Off	1	Richard Hayward
Gary Meakin	2	3.00 p.m.	2	Ollie Adedeji
Gary Burrell	3	Attendance	3	Mark Lambert
Chris Seeby	4	0	4	Danny Gudgeon
Michael Peacock	5	H/T	5	Danny Talbot
Ryan Tackley	6	1-2	6	Dave Hicks
Rob Ursell	7	Scorers	7	John Kryiacou
Mark Burgess (Capt.)	8	Northwood	8	Michael Bardle
Eugene Ofori	9	Ofori 8	9	Danny Burnell
Kyle Matthews	10	Chesham United	10	John Frendo
John Christian	11	Burnell 4, Frendo 30	11	Dave Fotherigham
Substitutes		Bookings	Substitutes
Lee Holland (2)	12	Northwood	12
Laurie Walters (3)	14	n/a	14
Hugo Figueiredo (11)	15	Chesham United	15
Harry Smart (7)	16	n/a	16
Sam Sharples (8)	17	Sent Off	17
Danny Power (4)	18	Northwood
Garry Senior (10)	19	n/a
		Chesham United
		n/a

Northwood continued their preparations for the new season with a trip to The Meadow. Woods could expect a stern test from the Southern Midland Division outfit, and they were given a good workout as they lost to the odd goal in three.

John Christian returned to the Northwood midfield in place of Harry Smart after being rested for the win over Hillingdon Borough the previous Saturday.

Chesham were quickly out of the blocks, and they opened the scoring as early as the 4th minute as Danny Burnell found the net.

Woods responded well and they drew level on eight minutes when Kyle Matthews sent over a delightful far post cross for Eugene Ofori, who sent a header back across goalkeeper Richard Hayward and into the bottom corner of the net. Northwood were lifted by the goal and they were on the attack again as Gary Meakin picked out Chris Seeby at the far post, but his header flew over the crossbar.

Both sides were seeing plenty of the ball, but it was the hosts who regained the lead on 30 minutes as Woods conceded a soft goal, John Frendo heading past ‘keeper Mitch Swain. Northwood had an opportunity to restore parity after more good work from Matthews but Rob Ursell was denied by Hayward whilst Garry Burrell shot narrowly wide.

Hayward foiled Woods once again immediately after the half-time as he produced a double save to turn Ursell’s downward header around the post.

Northwood made the obligatory substitutions on the hour-mark as they made five changes, and it was substitute Gary Senior who was the next to be denied by Hayward as his header was turned past the upright.

Chesham went close to extending their lead when Josh Cooper’s shot flew narrowly over the crossbar whilst at the other end, Burrell sent a rasping drive narrowly over the bar.

Woods utilised all their substitutes with further changes as the game moved into the latter stages, but it was former Northwood player Ben Porter who went closest  as he sent a shot into the arms of Swain.
Woods were unable to find an equaliser but Northwood manager Dave Anderson was happy to see his side given a stern workout a week before the League season begins.

Report by ROBIN PIPER

Photos by James Brown to follow