Hanworth Villa Res. 0  Northwood Res. 2

Saturday 15th December 2012

NORTHWOOD RESERVES		Suburban Lge Premier Div B
		At Hanworth
Team line-up		Northwood scorers: Fehme-Gil, Wright
1	Garry Malone
2	Theo Hunte
3	Lemin Cole
4	Correy Ellis
5	Ken Obeng
6	George Nicholas
7	Saul Otobo (65m)
8	Yassihe Fehme-Gil
9	Michael Dixon (74m)
10	Sam Labinjo
11	Rashid Oddabi
Substitutes
12	Harry Wright (65m)
14	Gabriel Adesina (74m)
15	Michael Bonsra
16	-
17	-

Northwood Reserves got their second win in a row and second consecutive clean sheet under the new management team of Errol Dyer and Roger Linton. Hanworth Villa were a strong physical side that lacked any real creativity in the midfield and relied heavily on the long ball approach throughout the game to try to breach the Woods midfield and defence. Dyer and Linton’s new look team have strength, flair and commitment throughout the side; and but for a little more composure in the final third, Northwood Reserves could have easily added a hatful of goals to an impressive, and certainly deserved their 2-0 away win.

The Woods went close to opening the scoring several times in the first thirty five minutes, with good efforts from Sam Labinjo, Theo Hunte, Michael Dixon and Yassihe Fehmi-Gil. In response the Villains’ best chance of the fir

st half came in the 42nd minute when their striker ran on to a through ball and beat two defenders before his shot was well saved by Garry Malone. Sixty seconds later an exquisite 40 yard through ball from Labinjo split the two Hanworth centre half’s and found Rashid Obbadi through on goal. Obbadi’s first touch was good and but for a cynical foul by the keeper he looked certain to score. The referee, who had a good game, decided to only show the keeper a yellow card instead of a straight red, and awarded Woods a free kick on the edge of the Villains’ penalty box. With only seconds left in the first half Fehmi-Gil stepped up and curled the free kick around the wall and into the right hand corner of the goal to give Northwood a half-time lead.

Woods made a bright start to the second half and went close to increasing their lead with good efforts from Labinjo in the 51st minute and two more from Oddabi on 59 and 64 minutes. Harry Wright replaced Saul Otobo in the 65th minute, and within a minute of coming on Wright’s free kick from just outside the penalty area found Dixon on the edge of the six yard box but his header was well saved by the Villains’ keeper. Woods continued to press Hanworth high up the pitch and limited the home side to only a couple of shots on target during the first period of the second half, and Malone dealt with them comfortably. George Nicholas on his debut had an outstanding game in the midfield, and went close to scoring in the 71st minute with a shot from about 30 yards out. Woods were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty moments later when Labinjo was pulled down in the Villains box.

Gabriel Adesina replaced Dixon with sixteen minutes to go. Northwood drove forward looking for the all-important second goal; leaving themselves a bit exposed at the back and Hanworth almost capitalised on some poor defending in the eighty-third minute with a great strike from just outside the woods box, but were denied thanks to a top draw save from Malone at full stretch. Just as they did in the first half, Woods scored in the final minute of normal time with a wonderful chip from Wright from just outside the box, the ball sailing over the Villains’ keeper into the far corner of the net. Wright’s first goal for Northwood sealed the win and gave the new look Reserves another three points. Overall this was another excellent team performance, with every player including the two substitutes playing their part in an entertaining and exciting game.