Saturday 27th March 1976
NORTHWOOD DROP ANOTHER VITAL TITLE POINT
BEDFONT 1 NORTHWOOD 1
On a pitch that was more like a scale model of Siberia, Northwood dropped yet another point in their increasingly hopeless quest for the Middlesex League title. The Woods allowed themselves to be put off by the conditions, whilst the hosts got direct to the business of chasing and harrying.
Nevertheless it was Northwood that took the lead in the 30th minute. Franklin passed forwards to Robin Tidd, who fed the ball through, and Gary Cooper fired the ball into the Bedfont net.
Unfortunately for Northwood, the rest of the half was controlled by the hard-working Bedfont team. The home side stormed back onto the attack, and Heslop was forced to clear a shot off the line with Russell beaten.
In the second half Northwood began to create all sorts of problems for Bedfont, mainly as a result of several mazy runs from Glyn Jones on the left. However, they failed to turn this domination into goals, mainly due to some disappointing finishing.
Bedfont came more into the game, and they drew level with a shot from the edge of the area, which Russell, the Northwood keeper, bravely pushed away, only for the ball to rebound off a Northwood defender into the net.
Northwood were short on goal chances for the remaining five minutes of the game, but their best opportunity fell to Gary Cooper, who raced past the Bedfont defence, only to see his shot come back off the post.
Northwood: Russell, Hammond, Harman, Mills, Presswell, Tidd, Franklin, Dibbens, Cooper, Pearce, Jones, sub. Roche.
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