Mill End Sports 2  Northwood Res. 1

Thursday 9th August 2012

Northwood Res.					Pre-season friendly King George V Playing Fields, Mill End
1	Garry Malone				Kick Off
2	Daniel Mensah				6.45 p.m.
3	Harry Wright				H/T
4	Romario Francis				1-0
5	Ed Hatcher ©				Scorers
6	Ryan Davern-Simpson				Northwood
7	Ryan Taylor				Blackwood
8	Ryan Lee
9	Jahmal Ramsey
10	Josh Brown
11	Daniel Blackwood
12	-
14	-
15	-

The Reserves took a small squad to Mill End Sports, who play in the Herts County Premier League, and although the Woods took the lead in the first half, a combination of Mill End's physicality and a very poor performance from the referee saw the home side score twice in the second half without reply.

Mill End started the stronger of the two sides and put the young Woods' side under pressure without actually creating any chances. Gradually Northwood started to get forward, and in the 15th minute an interchange between Ryan Lee and Romario Francis saw the latter cross to Daniel Blackwood, but he couldn't keep his shot down and it flew over the cross bar. Two minutes later, however, Francis once again got to the by-line and his deep cross to the far post was dispatched by Blackwood to open the scoring.

For the next twenty six minutes Woods' created  some good chances but Jahmal Ramsey, Ryan Taylor, Harry Wright, Ryan Lee and Blackwood all spurned chances to increase the lead. Just before half time Garry Malone saved smartly from a Mill End shot-come-cross and Blackwood once again got on the end of a Francis cross but his header went over the crossbar.

We can only guess at what the Mill End management told their players, but the second half started with a string of bad tackles, some unfortunately going unpunished by the referee. This physicality played a big part in the second half, and the home side equalised in the 50th minute when a cross was not dealt with and the Mill End player headed home. With the momentum now with the Herts team, they scored a very similar goal in the 62nd minute to take the lead.

There was still time, however, for the referee to give the home side a plethora of free-kicks in and around the Woods' penalty box and to deny the visitors a stonewall penalty when Blackwood was pushed over – but you can guess at what the outcome was!!

REPORT by Colin Finch

PHOTOS by Ruth Finch