Camberley Town Under 18 0  Northwood Under 18 3

Monday 18th October 2010

Northwood U18		FA Youth Cup 3rd Qual. Rnd. Krooner Park, Camberley
Chezney Cassell	1	Kick Off
Reece Fallon	2	7.30 p.m.
Gbenga Adelana	3	H/T
Jonas Charles	4	2-0
Sean Hollowed	5	Scorers
Dwayne Cole-Parkes	6	Northwood
John Uche	7	L Cole 2, Walker
Liam McGrath	8
Romaine Walker	9
Nathan McLeod	10
Lamin Cole	11
Julian Cole	12
Julian Smith (7)	14
Jack Hutchinson (10)	15
Zain Khan (11)	16
Tommy Day	17

The Woods stormed into the First Round proper of the FA Youth Cup for the first time in their history with another solid away performance at previously unbeaten Camberley. The home side had been banging in goals all season but Northwood built their success on their strong defence who kept a clean sheet for the third match in succession with JJ Adelana returning from his one-match ban to bolster the rearguard.

Jonas Charles was back after injury to skipper the side from the centre of midfield, while Lamin Cole and Nathan McLeod also returned to the starting line-up.

It was Camberley who were quickest out of the block with a long-range effort from Kyle Wilkie always going wide before Chezney Cassell was out of goal quickly to block at the feet of Jamie Madden.

Then, on twelve minutes, the Woods got their noses in front. McLeod played a good ball forward to Romaine Walker who burst into the box past his marker and was brought down by goalkeeper Sam Launay. The referee pointed to the spot and Lamin Cole took responsibility to fire home.

Northwood worked hard throughout the team to ensure that Camberley had little chance to dominate, shutting the ball down all over the pitch, restricted to strikes from distance which Cassell dealt with comfortably.

Walker was always a threat as the lone striker, latching onto a Lamin Cole pass and jinking past two defenders before firing into the side netting. Then, he went even closer, beating two defenders and shooting past the ‘keeper only for the ball to cannon back off the post.

Walker turned provider after 33 minutes as he crossed from the right and picked out Liam McGrath. His initial header was blocked but then fired over the top from the rebound. The pressure eventually told just seconds before the break as a quick break was led by McLeod and when an accurate cross came over from the right, Lamin Cole found himself unmarked to coolly slot home his second of the game.

Julian Smith replaced John Uche at half-time as the Woods continued to dominate the proceedings and a clever quick free-kick from Lamin Cole gave Walker another chance but he fired across the face of the goal.
The killer third wasn’t far away though as Walker produced another moment of pace and skill as he slalomed his way through the defence and powered a shot past Launay and into the top corner.

To their credit, Camberley did rally in the final half-hour. Matt Barclay saw his shot pushed onto a post by the diving Cassell and the Woods ‘keeper also tipped a Josh Gostage header over the top. Then, a good run and low shot from Jay Warden also hit the post before Gostage flicked another header wide of the target.

Zain Khan and Jack Hutchinson were given a run fifteen minutes from time but things didn’t quite go to plan as Hutchinson pulled up with a groin strain and limped off for the closing stages, leaving Northwood to play with just ten men. But they had clearly done enough and the defence of Reece Fallon, Dwayne Cole-Parkes, Sean Hollowed and Adelana remained strong to keep the important clean sheet.

One of only 32 non-League sides who will have made it through to the First Round proper and join the 48 representatives of the Football League Divisions One and Two, the Woods will have been a little disappointed to have been drawn against a fellow non-League side in Dulwich Hamlet. The Woods will have home advantage, though, and both sides know that a win would take them within one game of a possible tie against the cream of the Premiership academies.

Report: ALAN EVANS