After the worst possible of starts, Northwood recovered to play some stylish, attacking football and notched another three valuable points to extend their unbeaten league run to eight matches. Traffic problems in the Middlesex area meant that a few cars were delayed on the way to this midweek fixture and that included the kit, so it was only just over thirty minutes before kick-off that preparations got underway. Mark Burgess named an unchanged starting line-up, though there were places on the bench for the returning Ramil Sheriff and George Nicholas.

Egham, who were buoyed by a weekend thrashing of North Greenford, perhaps seized upon that lack of warm-up time and made a blistering start to the match. After just four minutes Adam Bernard burst into space and let fly with a low, skidding shot from 25 yards that caught out goalkeeper Rob Blackburne as it crept in under his body. Dave Lawrence had already seen an effort blocked and then Joakim Ehui knocked in a cross which home skipper Arran Taylor-Ives sliced only just wide of his own goal, so it was far from one-way traffic.

After 14 minutes, Niko Muir was put through with just Egham goalkeeper Gary Ross to beat but his shot was too near him and it was saved well. Just a minute later, the move was repeated and this time the Woods star striker hit a more powerful strike but Ross made an excellent save, tipping the ball over the bar.
Having survived that, the Sarnies then doubled their lead almost immediately as Barnard produced a brilliant cross under pressure wide on the right and Ryan O’Toole was unmarked at the far post to power a header in off the crossbar. Egham continued to attack and both Reis Stanislaus and O’Toole fired efforts across goal and wide of the target as the Woods looked to stay in the contest.

A couple of free-kick in quick succession saw Ross make solid saves to deny Oliver Sprague and then Lawrence before the latter was booked for an over-enthusiastic challenge following a drop-ball. But the longer the half went on, the more Northwood began to look dangerous. After 43 minutes a ball ran loose in the box and Karl Oliyide looked likely to score until an important touch away from Jake Galbraith, and then a minute later Oliyide burst down the right and squared the ball for Lawrence to sweep it home and reduce the arrears.

It raised the spirits for the second half, and after Stanislaus had missed a shot on the turn early on for Egham, Northwood set about finding an equaliser. Muir and Lawrence had half-chances before a sweeping move set Oliyide through on goal and a cool finish made it 2-2. Now the Woods really had their tails up and they seemed to have levelled when a free-kick dropped to Mark Burgess but his effort was surprisingly ruled out for offside when it seemed there were possibly two defenders between him and goal.

After 66 minutes, the home side almost ended the comeback as a free-kick from Joe Chandiram picked out Stanislaus and his header looked goalbound before it came back off the post and was cleared to safety. But four minutes later a quick break saw Ehui race down the left and centre to find Muir, who laid it off for Lawrence to fire home his second of the game.

From there only one winner looked likely. Lawrence combined with Oliyide, who put over a good cross which saw Ehui take his time to pick his spot but roll his shot just wide of the post. On 79 minutes Lawrence turned provider again, getting the better of Galbraith to knock in a ball which Muir pounced upon and fired past Ross to keep his goalscoring form ticking over.

Ross made another good save to deny Muir a few minutes later while both Ehui and substitute Nicholas went close late on but the Woods were happy to settle for their 4-2 victory which maintains their excellent run since their last defeat back in late September.
It doesn’t get any easier though as the side now face an away trip to third-placed Rugby Town on Saturday and they will need to be at their best again to achieve anything from Butlin Road.