Saturday 4th December 1971
WOODS BEAT LEAGUE LEADERS
NORTHWOOD 2 BEDFONT 1
Middlesex League leaders Bedfont had a man sent off as they fell to a peak-form Northwood side on Saturday.
The man getting his marching orders was Ken Williams for an off the ball incident. But rather than subdue the visitors, it stirred them into action and Woods did well to come up with a winner from Burt.
In the first half it was nearly all the Woods as they attacked the Bedfont goal, and only stout defensive work kept the score-line blank.
Northwood's midfield relished the large home pitch, and the skill of Harvey and Burt was significant in the early superiority. Steve Pearce produced his best display of the season with a performance of non-stop effort in attack and defence.
Although the scoreline was blank at half-time, Northwood's front three had produced enough effort and skill to have scored several times.
Paddy Coburn and Steve Senior were always a threat, but Barry Wanless, still suffering the effects of influenza, produced the nearest to a goal.
He beat a defender ten yards out and hit the ball wide of the 'keeper, but the ball struck the inside of the post arid rebounded to safety.
After the interval Bedfont came more into the game, but Northwood were in no mood to let the league leaders off the hook.
The football produced by Woods was on a par with any served up this season and a lesser side would have cracked earlier.
Ten minutes after the restart Senior showed his flair for opportunism when he anticipated a back-pass, and raced through the defence to steer the ball wide of the advancing keeper.
Soon after this in an off the ball incident Ken Williams of Bedfont was ordered off but rather than subdue the visitors this acted as a spur.
They came at the Woods, and it was now that the reshuffled home defence showed their worth.
In a rare lapse, Bedfont's Whitburn was allowed to run from deep in his own half to hammer a great goal.
But with only minutes to go Northwood earned a free kick when Byrne was heavily pulled down.
Ian Harvey slipped the ball to Burt and he hammered it goalwards. The sheer power of the shot carried it out of the keeper's grasp and into the net to give Northwood a well-deserved win.
Northwood:, R. Byrne, G. Harding, J. Myers, B. Gould, B. Taylor, W. Burt, I. Harvey, S. Pearce, P. Coburn, B. Wanless, S. Senior. Sub. P. J. Byrne.
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