Northwood’s run of winning form came to an abrupt end with this clear-cut defeat at the hands of Egham who quickly took charge of this midweek fixture. Mark Burgess named an unchanged starting line-up as the side looked to follow-up Saturday’s emphatic win over Marlow, but it never looked likely after a nightmare start to the contest.
After just five minutes there was a hint of handball as a cross came in from the right but the defence switched off and it needed a solid push up and onto the bar by goalkeeper Danny McNicholas from Josh Andrew’s good header to prevent a goal. Two minutes later Perry Dicker picked up a yellow card for delaying the restart – one of three shown in the first-half – and after nine minutes, the home side were ahead. As the Woods looked to clear, Alex Nolan miskicked to one-time Northwood player George Gould and he poked a shot inside the post from twenty yards.
Four minutes later, a free-kick was conceded wide on the Northwood right and when this was curled towards goal by Mo Harkin, the ball took a deflection to leave McNicholas wrong-footed as it crept in at the far post. Stand-in captain Joakim Ehui succumbed to injury as the Woods looked for a way back into the game and was replaced by Nana Asamoah, but there was no real cohesion up front and Egham’s defence was rarely troubled until the closing stages of the half.
After 37 minutes George Nicholas found space for a run and a shot that was saved at the foot of the post by goalkeeper Josh Richardson. Then Andy Lomas hit a hopeful shot that looped and dropped only just the wrong side of the bar. Egham still looked dangerous though and the half ended with a cross from Danny Williamson being flicked goalwards by Dan Read by McNicholas kept it out.
No doubt the half-time talk was fierce but the second period was only 25 seconds old when former AFC Wimbledon midfielder Dan Pearce spotted the keeper off his line and chipped a fine goal from the halfway line to make it 3-0.
Any recovery from there seemed highly unlikely with the Woods yet to make any mark on the game and McNicholas made a good save from Williamson after Nick Turner’s header had lacked distance. Yet there was a brief moment of hope for Northwood. After Omar Vassell had swept a shot over after being set up by Nicholas, Rob Hastings pulled a goal back with a fine finish at the second attempt after Michael Murray’s free-kick had been half-cleared. The ball flew into the top far corner from the edge of the box.
It didn’t last long, though, as just a couple of minutes later a wide ball to the dangerous Andrew saw him cut back in across goal and arrow a shot inside the far post. Substitutions followed by both sides and it was only in the final ten minutes that the Woods made some inroads but two headers from Nicholas and one from Dicker were unable to beat Richardson, a Hastings strike deflected just over the bar and another effort from Nicholas flashed wide of the near-post. |