The Woods slumped to their sixth successive home defeat against local rivals Uxbridge without really striking a blow, leaving manager Steve Hale still searching for a return to winning form.

Three of the four defenders were changed, with two players - Joe Gallagher and Matt Jarvis - coming for their Northwood debuts, while Scott Raper returned after injury to the left-back position with Ryan Tackley again ruled out with injury. Skipper Mark Burgess moved into a midfield position to join the returning Murray Williamson and Lucas Williams, while Jake Lovell was back after suspension.

Visiting Uxbridge, managed by former Woods boss Tony Choules, included former Northwood players Mark Dennison and Wayne Carter but were without unavailable top scorer Chris Moore.

Northwood started badly and gifted Uxbridge a tenth minute lead when Craige Tomkins’ strident run into the box was halted by Zac Gill’s outstretched foot and Dave Thomas was given the opportunity to score from the penalty-spot.

Mark Phillpott kept out a deflected shot from Kevin Warner a minute later and the visitors continued to dominate, with Phillpott lucky to survive with just a yellow card when he raced out of goal to upend Stuart Farrell merely because there were a couple of defenders still in the goalmouth.

Warner missed another good chance after twenty minutes but the game became bogged down in the sticky centre of the pitch for the majority of the remainder of the half.

There was three minutes to go to half-time when the Woods finally made a worthwhile attack of their own, with Williams racing forward to shoot. The ball hit Scott Orphanou in the area and when he went to retrieve the loose ball he was clearly kicked by Rob Fitzgerald, but Referee Mark Tweed chose not keen to even up the penalty-kick count.

Three minutes into the second-half, Jarvis knocked a Lovell cross down to Orphanou but his shot on the turn lacked power. Northwood were enjoying a better spell, with Williams knocking in a sharp cross which was deflected away and then Dean Wallace hit a crisp volley which was pushed over the top by goalkeeper Michael Piwonski.

But having finally tested the ‘keeper, the Woods went back into their shell, and never looked likely finding their way back into the game after that. Tomkins knocked in a dangerous cross which had Phillpott struggling and just managed to deflect the ball the other side of the post.

It was after 86 minutes that Dennison headed home a Thomas free-kick to make the points safe, and Farrell should have done better when latching onto a loose clearance from Phillpott soon after but the visitors were happy to relieve their own relegation worries with a simple 2-0 victory.

Report by ALAN EVANS

Photos to follow...

Photos by James Brown