Northwood manager Dean Barker marked his return to the Maurice Rebak Stadium by overseeing his team's progression to the next round with a penalty shoot-out win over their Bostik Premier opponents.
There were a number of changes from the Woods team which started at Westfield the previous Saturday; Sam Tring was back from suspension to resume his central defensive partnership with Carl Pearce, Dan Newton moving across to right-back at the expense of Sam Jenkins, while Hakim Nyariki started in place of the injured Chris Gosling. The was also a new face on the left flank as following his switch from Barking, new signing Brendan Ocran replaced Miguel Lopes de Matos.
On a still, mild evening and on one of the best pitches around, conditions were perfect for both teams passing games and Northwood were the first to threaten as Kweku Lucan dispossessed Timothy Monsheju in a dangerous position but his rising shot comfortably cleared the crossbar. Woods’ bright start continued as Nyariki found space on the edge of the box to fire in a low shot which goalkeeper Shane Gore turned round the upright.
The resulting Cameron Ferguson corner might have promised more but Ned Clarke and Pearce both challenged for the ball which deflected over. The hosts had offered little up to this point but a crossfield ball picked out Ola Williams who cut in from the right before firing his shot narrowly over.
Wingate continued to press with the lively David Manu seeing his shot blocked by the Woods defence before another effort was comfortably gathered by keeper Luke Sheldrick. Despite the neat football being produced by both sides, neither keeper was troubled for the remainder of the half; although Tring threatened as he headed over from a Ferguson free-kick.
The contest continued in a similar vein after the restart although Ocran was beginning to see more of the ball for Northwood, shooting over after running onto a through-ball from Tring before cutting in from the left flank but unable to get the necessary power on his shot to seriously trouble Gore.
Woods made a change just after the hour-mark with Ferguson making way for Keir Dickson, who took a position up on the left side with Ocran moving into the middle.
The tempo of the match was increasing as both sides went in search of that elusive goal, Williams and Marc Charles-Smith off- target with shots for the hosts while Tring's intended far post cross almost caught out the back-pedalling Gore, who tipped over for a corner.
Emmanuel Melford-Rowe entered the fray as a 73rd minute substitute replacing Clarke up front but Woods had some defending to do as Newton cleared Monsheju's cross-shot. Wingate maintained the pressure but Northwood's impressive backline stood up to the challenge with the hosts restricted to a couple of speculative efforts from substitute Reece Beckles-Richards and another from Manu.
Karl Stevenson replaced Nyariki on 89 minutes, perhaps with penalties in mind but that substitution could have been made academic as Woods had a glorious chance to win it in the second minute of added time; Dickson collecting from Sheldrick and running from deep before putting the ball on a plate for Lucan but his hurried shot whistled over the target.
There was still time for Northwood and more good work from Dickson found Melford-Rowe in a useful position but his attempted cut-back failed to find a red shirt so penalties it was.
Both sides looked as if they had been practising spot-kicks as Dickson, Stevenson, Stefan Powell and Matt Cooper clinically converted for Northwood. But after Sheldrick had got a faint fingertip to divert Wingate's fourth penalty from Charles-Smith onto the post, Sam Tring stepped up to send Northwood into the next round and make it a happy return for Barker and a number of his players who had previously worn the blue shirt. |