Northwood’s Red Insure Cup journey came to an abrupt end before the quarter-final stage on Tuesday night as they were emphatically beaten by Premier Division title challengers Chesham United. The defence was disrupted by skipper Ronayne Marsh-Brown being ruled out with a knee injury while Reece Yorke was cup-tied, having played for St. Albans City in an earlier round. It meant a recall for Andrew Mensah at right-back and Liam Fowler in the centre while Scott Raper had to move to an unfamiliar left-back role. Jonathan Constant started a game for the first time in a few weeks and Kyle Matthews started in place of the rested Romaine Walker, but the Woods were a match for their opponents in most areas during an entertaining first half.

After just five minutes it was Northwood who notched the first effort on goal as John Christian combined with Constant for a low shot which was palmed out by goalkeeper Shane Gore and cleared away by a defender.  Chesham crafted their first chance on ten minutes as Brad Wadkins slipped Bruce Wilson through but he slipped at the crucial moment and the ball was tidied up.  Back came the Woods four minutes later, when some good approach work saw Oliver Hawkins flick-on to Craig White and his ball to Matthews led to a dangerous cross being knocked behind for a corner. From that Hawkins got his head to Constant’s cross but Gore was behind it for a comfortable save low down.

Just three minutes later the home side got their noses in front with their first effort on goal. A free-kick was pumped in and when Leon Archer headed the ball down, Steve Wales was there to score with a cool finish.  Wales then showed some real class to add a second goal on 25 minutes with a crashing shot over his shoulder which flew into the far top corner and suddenly the Generals had taken a two-goal lead with only two shots at goal.

The Woods showed plenty of battle to try to get back into things before the break. After 32 minutes, Mensah showed his pace with a long run across the park and he let fly with a shot from just outside the box which wasn’t far wide of the post. Three minutes later Fowler made a rare attacking foray and found Hawkins with a neat ball but the striker’s well-struck shot flashed wide of the far post. There was one more chance before half-time as Lee Grant combined with Garry Senior, but the ball out to Matthews wasn’t accurate enough and his shot was blocked.

Northwood could think themselves a little unlucky to be so far behind as the second half began, and an early goal would have made things interesting. As it happened, it was Chesham who turned the screw and quickly put the result beyond doubt just five minutes after the restart. Wales turned supplier this time, picking out Archer perfectly with his cross and the striker headed home unmarked. Heads went down at this stage, and the Woods lost their shape against a superbly well-drilled and motivated Chesham side who took full advantage. Mitch Swain was out to save at the feet of James Potton as he ran through on goal but he could do nothing to prevent a fourth on the hour as Mensah lost possession and a swift counter-attack saw Wilson race down the flank and cross for Archer to add his second from close-range.

Harry Wright replaced Fowler to give the youngster a taste of playing against a top-level Southern League side, and he impressed on his forward runs but the defensive side of things were going from bad to worse and the Generals added a fifth goal on 66 minutes. This time the cross came in from the right and Potton was the man to turn the ball home.
More substitutions followed with Walker and Kurt Morlese coming on for the two strikers Hawkins and Senior but it had little effect at this stage.  After 71 minutes Swain made a good save to deny a cracking shot on the turn from Archer but almost immediately Wilson made another tricky run down the left, beat Raper and crossed for Wadkins to fire home a sixth goal.

With twenty minutes still to go, there were concerns of conceding more goals but the tempo dropped and in fact there was no further goalmouth action at either end, and Chesham seemed happy to declare having scored six goals from only eight efforts at goal; only one of which was off-target! Northwood had been given a real lesson in one of the skills that they have been lacking for most of what has been a good season – clinical finishing. Hopefully they can work towards that over the coming weeks as they look to build towards a late play-off push.

Report by ALAN EVANS

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Photos by James Brown