Hoddesdon Town 2 Northwood 4
Saturday 21st July 2018
NORTHWOOD | |||
1 | Luke Sheldrick | ||
2 | Karl Stevenson (56m) | ||
3 | Matt Cooper (52m) | ||
4 | Cameron Ferguson (59m) | ||
5 | Ben Andreos | ||
6 | Tom Massey (65m) | ||
7 | Rhys Shirley-Clarke (53m) | ||
8 | Chris Gosling | ||
9 | James Ewington (67m) | ||
10 | Ben Pattie (67m) | ||
11 | Emmanuel Melford-Rowe | ||
Substitutes | |||
12 | Adam Murad (53m) | ||
14 | Antoine Akinola (67m) | ||
15 | Sam Jenkins (56m) | ||
16 | Miguel Matos (52m) | ||
17 | Austin Schofield (65m) | ||
18 | Hakeem Nyariki (59m) | ||
19 | Paolo Montella (67m) | ||
Northwood's pre-season programme continued with another useful workout against Essex Senior League outfit Hoddesdon Town on the 3G surface at Wodson Park.
Injuries and unavailability meant manager Dean Barker had to shuffle his troops, Ben Andreos displaying his versatility by slotting into central defence in place of Carl Pearce, Karl Stevenson slotting in at right-back, while Cameron Ferguson partnered Chris Gosling in central midfield.
Northwood were immediately on the offensive as a quick break led to James Ewington drawing a smart save from the Hoddesdon goalkeeper. However, Ewington wasn't to be denied on 11 minutes as he executed a cool finish to a sweeping move involving Andreos and Ben Pattie to put Woods in front.
Northwood kept up the pressure and the Lillywhite's 'keeper was in the thick of it as he pulled off a couple of saves to prevent Pattie adding to the score.
But Woods found the reward for their enterprising play through Rhys Shirley-Clarke as he put the finishing touch on quick break from defence to make it 2-0 on 24 minutes.
However, Hoddesdon responded as they punished some slack defending to reduce the arrears on 31 minutes as Joss Lillis converted from close range.
Northwood came out reinvigorated after the half-time break and an incisive move involving left-back Matt Cooper and Ewington led to Pattie converting to restore the two goal advantage on 49 minutes.
However, the Lillywhites proceeded to ask questions of the Woods' defence and Alex Warman pulled a goal back on 55 minutes with a neat strike from the edge of the box. Manager Barker made a number of substitutions as he looked to give the whole squad a run out and there was a first appearance in attack for Adam Murad.
And Woods confirmed their superiority with a fourth goal on the hour as Sam Jenkins' long ball from right-back picked out Emmanuel Melford-Rowe who delightfully lifted the ball over the advancing goalkeeper.
Northwood continued to dominate with Paulo Montella, Melford-Rowe and Antoine Akinola all going close but there were to be no further additions to the scoreline on another productive afternoon for Barker's men.
REPORT by Robin Piper
PHOTOS by James Brown