Battling against the heat on a scorching August bank holiday Monday, Northwood got their first point of the season after a hard-fought draw against promotion favourites Bracknell Town.

A stunning strike from debutant Charlie Hayford and a composed finish from Kweku Lucan, all within the first 15 minutes, were not enough to hand Northwood their first win of the season.

Goals from Bracknell’s Nathan Minhas and Dan Carr saw the visitors fight back from a two-goal deficit.

Coming off the back of a disastrous FA Cup performance, manager Scott Dash made a handful of changes. Karl Stevenson, Matt Cooper, Imran Uche, and Luke Holness all coming back into the starting eleven with the aforementioned Hayford making his debut for the Woods.

Northwood’s players started the game with a lot to prove, and it took no less than eight minutes for them to get off the mark. Holness passed the ball across the outside of the box to Hayford; Hayford with little time to think produced an unstoppable outside of the boot curling shot, handing Northwood a dream start.

Five minutes later, and the dream start became even more unbelievable. A well-timed interception from Chris Gosling launched a rapid counterattack, ending with Lucan putting the ball in the back of the net with a composed finish.

The two goals in quick succession surprised Bracknell, and with the visitors pushing for a goal, the game became a box-to-box affair, with both sides having ample chances to score.

In such an open game, it was to no one’s surprise when Bracknell got a goal back in the 43rd minute.

Substitute Dan Carr’s strike from just outside the box was well saved by Rob Partington, who tipped it around the post. However, the subsequent corner was scored by Nathan Minhas, a powerful header from 6-yards out.

Not long after Bracknell’s first goal, their second was scored, or so they thought. Joe Gater had the ball in the back of the net after winning his header from a corner, but amid all the action Partington was fouled and the goal was rightly ruled out.

The beginning of the second half did not have the goals of the first, but there was attacking action aplenty, with both clubs squandering a mix of great opportunities.

That was until Carr was left unmarked in the 18-yard box and was well placed to score a glancing header to bring the game to a stalemate in the 70th minute.

Holness, who already had two assists, looked to get on the score sheet but his shot was valiantly saved by the face of Bracknell Town’s goalkeeper Mark Scott.

Nearing the end of the match, two heroic individual moments from both sides saw the points shared equally. Matt Cooper’s last-ditch block prevented the visitors scoring, and up the following end Bracknell’s goalkeeper was quick off his line to stop Lucan scoring what would have been a stoppage-time winner.