Both sides had suffered the blow of an FA Cup defeat a week earlier but it was the Woods who bounced back in fine fashion with a comprehensive victory over second-placed St. Neots Town, many people’s expected title challengers.

Three players made their Northwood debuts as Gary Meakin looked to strengthen his back-line. Left-back Ronayne Marsh-Brown arrived from Premier Division Harrow Borough while the experienced pairing of goalkeeper Sean Thomas and midfielder Danny Dyer came in from Hendon to get a few games under their belt on a dual-registration basis. Dyer slotted in at right-back, but they were missing the impressive Junior Osborne after he was injured in the warm-up.

The Woods made a promising start with Oliver Hawkins getting on the end of a three man move in just the third minute but his shot lacked the power to beat goalkeeper Michael Duggan. It was after 10 minutes that Northwood took the lead. Hawkins got his head to a corner which was blocked on the line, but the ball came back out to James McCluskey who cleverly slipped it to Garry Senior and he spun to fire home from close-range; his first goal of the season.

The Saints were stung into action and after Thomas had made a comfortable save from Junior Kanudu’s long-range effort, the visitors levelled things up on 13 minutes as Dan Jacob raced onto a ball down the middle, skipped past Liam Fowler and coolly slotted home with precision. The blistering start continued, and the Woods were back in front within a minute as Senior doubled his own personal tally with a near-post finish and this time it appeared to knock the stuffing out of St. Neots.

Northwood started to dominate the midfield, with both McCluskey and Craig White winning tackles and setting up attacks. Fowler latched onto a Hawkins flick but saw his effort blocked by Adrian Sear for a corner and then Hawkins raced onto a Romaine Walker ball, only to see Duggan make a fine save with Senior just unable to get to the rebound.

The visitors were mainly restricted to long-range efforts, though Chris Hope did steer a free header wide when getting on the end of a deep corner but Northwood grabbed an important third goal before the break. After 41 minutes White broke quickly and Hawkins flicked on his ball into the path of Wayne O’Sullivan, who cut in from the right and steered a shot past Duggan and inside the far post.

The Saints made a double-change at half-time, looking to revive their fortunes but it failed to have any immediate effect as the Woods defence held strong and it was O’Sullivan who went closest to adding to the scoreline with a shot which almost crept in at the near post.  Shane Tolley had the ball in the net for the visitors but that was ruled out with an offside flag, and then the hard-working Jacob knocked in a dangerous cross but there was no-one there to take advantage.

Duggan kept his side in the game with a solid save from O’Sullivan after 62 minutes and the match continued to entertain as both sides played attacking football. It was after 76 minutes that the Saints’ final opportunity was thwarted as Thomas made an impressive diving stop to push a shot from Tolley wide of the post.

The Woods made their own substitutions and two of them combined well to wrap up the victory in the final minute. Jonathan Constant raced down the right and sent over an inviting cross which eluded the Saints defence but found Aaron Lansiquot who raced in to hit a controlled volley into the roof of the net.

Report by ALAN EVANS

Photos by James Brown