The Woods moved into the quarter-finals of the County Cup with this narrow victory over Spartan South Midlands League side Hanwell Town. The visitors have been enjoying a great season challenging for the title while also reaching the Fourth Round of the FA Vase for the first-ever time, so this was always likely to be a challenge for Northwood. Youngster Danny McNicholas returned in goal but it was an otherwise unchanged side for the Woods while Hanwell chose to leave a few of their regular players, including top scorer Bill Healey, on the bench.

The Woods dominated the early stages without threatening too much but they did snatch the lead after 23 minutes as Dave Lawrence raced forward and slid a ball into the path of Karl Oliyide who fired home from a tight angle. Joakim Ehui had a shot well saved by visiting goalkeeper Charlie Fanner but Hanwell then levelled with pretty much their first chance after 32 minutes as a quick break from Calum Duffy saw him feed Chris Mills and the one-time Northwood midfielder finished expertly.

Oliyide missed a great chance to put the Woods back in front, shooting wide of the post when one-on-one with the keeper and then Fanner made a good save to deny Lawrence as it stayed level at half-time. The second half was fairly uneventful up to a wave of patchy fog coming in and enveloping the ground; enough to see the referee call a halt to proceedings. Most felt we wouldn’t be continuing as the officials opted for a ten minute break to see if things improved, but surprisingly the fog lifted and we were back underway.

Ramil Sheriff soon went off though with a facial injury, to be replaced with James Duncan, and chances were few and far between. After 70 minutes a good move saw Ehui and Niko Muir combine to set up Lawrence but he scooped the ball over the top and after 78 minutes Luke Fox was introduced as substitute for Ehui. This was relevant for the fact it was Luke’s first appearance in a competitive first team fixture, having also played for all the Northwood youth and reserve teams previously; a rare feat.

The game drifted into extra-time, and the Woods did the damage in the first period as firstly Muir slotted home to make it 2-1 on 97 minutes and four minutes later Oliyide did grab his second to increase that lead further.

The prolific scorer Healey had been introduced just before the start of extra-time and he showed that prowess by raising Hanwell hopes when making it 3-2 from close-range with ten minutes still to play but the Woods held on comfortably with Oliyide and Lawrence both going close in the final stages.

Northwood now get to travel to Hampton & Richmond Borough in the next round which will be staged at Beveree in February.